The Chase stars before they were famous

Long before he became ‘The Beast’, Mark walked away with a whopping £32,000 as a contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire?. In 2006, the school teacher turned TV star appeared on the iconic ITV game show, which was hosted by Chris Tarrant until 2014. Watch his winning moment in the video above. 

Darragh made history as the first former contestant to become a Chaser when he competed against Paul Sinha in 2017. The neuroscientist wowed the show’s producers with his incredible performance, banking £9,000 in the cash builder. 

Jenny is no stranger to game shows, having appeared on University Challenge, Mastermind and Only Connect long before joining the Chaser line-up. The 42-year-old, who previously worked as a question writer on quiz shows, appeared on several episodes of Only Connect between 2010 and 2011 – and she rocked a completely different hairstyle at the time! See her short, brunette bob in the photo above.

Shaun, 64, made history back in 2004 when he became the first black winner of Mastermind. The criminal law barrister beat five finalists, including a retired chemist and a financial adviser, to the prize. His specialist subject was the FA Cup Finals since 1970. The photo above was taken the year after Shaun’s big win and sees the smiling quizzer attending the Barnado’s National Football Quiz in London. 

Paul delighted his social media followers when he shared this throwback to 1985 in December last year. The professional quizzer, who trained as a doctor before turning to a career in stand-up comedy, is just 25 years old in the portrait photo. Poking fun at himself in the caption, Paul, whose birth name is Supriya, penned: “Supriya Sinha 25, MBBS, Bengali (brahmin), seeks unobservant Hindu female with low long-term aspirations.”

Like many of her co-stars, The Chase wasn’t Anne’s first game show appearance. The professional quizzer, 66, made her TV debut back in 1988 as a contestant on Mastermind – and we love the colourful blouse and vintage glasses!