The Chase (episodes)

The episode guide for the The Chase

Ratings
On 4 December 2012, The Chase received 3.6 million viewers, the highest ever for regular editions. It was reported the following week that The Chase was now ITV's most popular teatime hit since The Paul O'Grady Show in 2005. On 21 January 2013, The Chase managed a peak audience of 5.1 million, a new all-time high.

Episode viewing figures are from BARB and do not include +1.

Rivalry with Pointless
In its 5:00pm timeslot, The Chase competes with another game show, Pointless, on BBC One, which was launched in August 2009, two months after The Chase's debut. The two shows usually get similar ratings - for example, in September 2012 The Chase had 2.44 million viewers versus 2.27 million for Pointless.

Between October 2012 and January 2013, The Chase did not once lose in the ratings to Pointless until Pointless received 3.53 million viewers while The Chase received 3.41 million and again where Pointless received 3.58 million viewers to The Chase's 3.30 million viewers for two weeks in a row in February 2013.

Episode results
* The episode that aired on 21 December 2012 featured Lorraine Kelly, Craig Charles, Jamelia and Dom Joly, who all played for Text Santa. This episode featured all four Chasers. Each celebrity picked out a Christmas bauble from a bag that determined which Chaser they would face. Kelly picked out Mark, Charles picked out Anne, Jamelia picked out Paul and Joly was left with Shaun. For The Final Chase, Walsh asked the remaining celebrities (Kelly and Jamelia) which Chaser they wanted to play against. The celebrities picked Mark who failed to catch them, which meant that they won the £11,000 prize money they brought through to The Final Chase, but as it was played for Text Santa, the £11,000 prize money was doubled to £22,000.

Celebrities in the third series include: Keith Chegwin, Francine Lewis, Eric Bristow, Nadine Dorries, Ashley Roberts, Sammy Winward, Ed Byrne, Alastair Stewart, Kim Woodburn, Russell Grant, Natasha Hamilton and Linda Robson.