The Chase (partially found unaired Fox pilots for rejected American version of British game show; 2012)

The Chase logo.

Status: Partially Found

The Chase is an ITV game show that first aired in the United Kingdom in 2009. The show's premise sees contestants attempting to answer quiz questions in order to outrun professional quizzers known as the Chasers. Hosted by Bradley Walsh, the show's success in Britain led to Fox producing two pilots intended for an American spin-off that was ultimately rejected.

Background

Since it first aired on ITV on 29th June 2009, The Chase has become a hit game show that is still routinely producing episodes of 2022. Its popularity has led to it remaining on primetime television, where it primarily competes against the BBC 1 game show Pointless. The Chase has reached over 2,000 episodes, and as of the present day, has run for 15 series.

In The Chase, four individuals work together to outpace the Chaser, a quiz master. In Cash Builder, a contestant has 60 seconds to answer as many questions correctly as possible. In the original British version, every correct answer earns them £1,000. Once the Cash Builder ends, they enter a Head-to-Head with the Chaser. Here, both the contestant and Chaser answer the same questions simultaneously, with the player tasked to move down the board to safety. The Chaser starts a few spaces behind the contestant. If the contestant and/or Chaser is correct, they move a space down the board. If not, they remain where they are. The game ends when the player either reaches safety, or the Chaser lands on the player's position, eliminating them from the game. The player is also given three cash offers by the Chaser before the Head-to-Head starts; aside from keeping the original money accumulated, the contestant can go for a lower offer in exchange for starting an extra space down the board, or a higher offer where they start an extra space closer to the Chaser.

The individuals that reach safety participate in the Final Chase, where they must answer as many questions as possible to accumulate steps away from the Chaser. The Chaser then has 60 seconds to correctly answer the same number of questions to reach the contestants. If they do, the contestants receive nothing, but if the Chaser runs out of time, the contestants receive an equal split of the prize money.

Fox Pilots

In the United Kingdom, The Chase has regularly drawn in 3-5 million viewers for each episode. Thus, its success has led to international spin-offs, including in Australia. In May 2012, it was reported that Fox was interested in establishing an American spin-off, with Bradley Walsh remaining as host. Two pilots were commissioned that were filmed on the UK set in September 2012. The first featured "The Beast" Mark Labbett, while the second pilot featured a new Chaser in Brad Rutter, most known for being a Jeopardy! champion.

Ultimately, a week following the pilots' filming, Fox underwent a reshuffle amongst its senior staff. The new leadership were less keen on producing The Chase, and so the Fox spin-off was scrapped. However, GSN became interested in the show, eventually greenlighting and broadcasting the first American episodes of The Chase in 2013, with Labbett as one of the Chasers and Brooke Burns as host. The GSN version lasted until 2015; in 2021, ABC picked up the show, with Rutter making his televised debut as a Chaser alongside Labbett and others.

Availability

Little media has been released surrounding the two pilots. On 9th January 2018, the introduction of Labbett's pilot would be uploaded to YouTube by TheChaseEnthusiast - Dave Harton, analysis of which indicates this version of The Chase took a more dramatic approach compared to the UK version. Aside from this, the two pilots have yet to see a full public release.

Gallery

Video

Introduction to Labbett's pilot.