The Chase star Paul Sinha has revealed that he and his fellow Chasers go on an annual quizzing holiday where they have questions "thrown" at them for a week.
The 54-year-old told presenters on ITV's Good Morning Britain that it began after the group had been planning a trip to Rhodes but Mark Labbett, nicknamed "The Beast", was unable to make it.
Sinha said: "It started a few years ago when a guy called Stephen, who’s the wealthiest man I know because he’s a dentist . . . we organised an annual holiday to Rhodes in the Mediterranean.
"Then Mark couldn’t make it because he was never around during the month.
"So this dentist, out of the kindness of his own heart, said 'Why don’t you come to my house?’ and, being a dentist, it’s the largest house you’ve ever seen in the world.
"I won’t say where it is because it’s clearly secret, but we go for one week every year and we just get questions thrown at us for a week.
"It’s like a training regimen with the best food and the best treatment, it’s an amazing holiday."
Sinha, nicknamed "The Sinnerman", has been on ITV show The Chase since 2011, when he joined as the fourth Chaser. He also has a stand-up comedy career and has hosted a number of BBC radio shows.
The Chase, which sees a team of contestants compete against one of a team of professional quizzers to win a cash jackpot, will celebrate its 15th anniversary next week.
There are six chasers, with Sinha and Labbett joined by "The Governess" Anne Hegarty, "The Dark Destroyer" Shaun Wallace, "The Vixen" Jenny Ryan, and the newest Chaser, Irishman Darragh Ennis, who is nicknamed "The Menace" and joined in 2020 after taking part as a contestant in 2017.
Each Chaser is a champion quizzer, with some revealing their specialist subjects when appearing on Mastermind - Wallace’s is FA Cup finals and Hegarty’s is the life and works of American lyricist Lorenz Hart.
In May 2019, Sinha was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease, and he has also suffered two heart attacks.
The professional quizzer spoke about his health during the GMB interview, saying he had "the worst week of my life" in December last year, when he underwent a heart bypass.
He added: "It’s been a busy 12 months. I had the worst week of my life in December, being in hospital for a bypass operation.
"It was an extraordinarily traumatic week for me, not least on the penultimate day, when I was trying to get some sleep and a patient two beds down had his wife on speakerphone, and I heard his wife bellow ‘the ironic thing is he’s the Chaser I’ve always hated’.
"In many ways it cheered me up."
Sinha was speaking after the publication of his memoir, One Sinha Lifetime, with The Chase’s 15th anniversary special to air on UTV on Tuesday September 2.
Source: Press Association
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