The man in the high chair
Shaun Wallace, one of the haughty faces peering down at contestants in the hit quiz show The Chase, is in the game to win.
Shaun Wallace, one of the haughty faces peering down at contestants in the hit quiz show The Chase, is in the game to win.
It’s time to meet the Chaser. As fans of TVNZ 1’s freakishly popular UK television quiz show The Chase will know, this is the moment when the urgent music ramps up, the set turns red and the formidable quiz professional of the day appears, as if swaggering out of the flame-licked jaws of Hell. Mark “The Beast” Labbett, Paul “Sinnerman” Sinha, Anne
“The Governess” Hegerty, Jenny “The Vixen” Ryan … the Chasers’ nicknames are in keeping with a vibe that’s part Mastermind, part pantomime.
Today, I’m up against Shaun Wallace, also known as The Dark Destroyer, Legal Eagle, Grumpy Drawers and, when host Bradley Walsh is feeling particularly carnivorous, Bowling
Ball Head. It’s after 10pm my time when we finally speak. It’s a Chaser’s job to be a little intimidating. Never mind. Wallace is on the phone from London, so I can’t see his trademark withering sneer – and I’m asking the questions.
“Oh, it’s all in good fun,” he says, of The Chase’s trash-talk. He speaks in an authoritative baritone honed in the courtroom. He’s a part-time barrister in real life and a man unafraid to bust out a falsetto chorus of James Blunt’s You’re Beautiful or a bad Michael Caine impression, the better to elucidate a quiz question. He understands the theatre of The Chase: “A funny, entertaining host who sides with the contestants versus a big bad mean Chaser,” he explains happily. “It’s a perfect mix for a successful product.”
The show can be comedy gold, largely thanks to the tendency of Walsh, a comedian also known as sometime Coronation Street wide boy Danny Baldwin, to be reduced to gurning, whimpering hysterics by the show’s more innuendo-laced questions. His epic struggles for composure have even stony-faced Chasers cracking up.
“Absolutely,” says Wallace. “What made the show really popular is that Fanny Chmelar question.” Ah, yes. The name of the German alpine skier destroyed Walsh. “I was in the studio and I was very surprised they let that through.” Weren’t we all. “I think that question alone made the show a success, because it allowed the question-setters to ask innuendo-type questions that will make Bradley crack up.”
The show needs some laughs. It’s a gruelling format. Teams of four contestants undergo individual rounds where they try to amass money and then survive a chase by the Chaser. Winnings can disappear in a final battle between the team’s survivors and the Chaser. Many leave without a bean. “They do, but in saying that, there are contestants who do win and win big. Who would watch a show if the Chasers won all the time? Nobody. And when we lose, we lose because of the merits of the contestants.”
He possibly feels the need to emphasise this because of such tabloid headlines as, “The Chase viewers utterly fed up with show amid fresh fix claims”. Wallace found himself under fire after one show on which he fluffed apparently easy questions.
“It’s either fixed or we’re useless and should be sacked,” he sighs. “They don’t take into account the fact that it just may be that the contestants on that day were better than us.”
Once, asked what island New York is on, Wallace replied “Staten”. How does that happen? “Yeah, sometimes the brain and the mouth are not engaged at the same time. Sometimes we try to jump in and answer instead of listening to the question. Obviously I’m conscious of the time, especially in the final chase. So we do make the occasional slip-up and it’s not because I want the contestants to win. It’s because, you know, I’m human and I can make a mistake.”
He seems very amiable for a big bad mean Chaser called The Dark Destroyer. “It was Bradley who gave us all our nicknames.” Although when Wallace joined Labbett and Hegerty late last year to film the Australian version of The Chase, his brand underwent a minor adjustment. There he’ll be known as just
The Destroyer. Why is that? “Well, I don’t know the reason and I’ve not really asked. But I would imagine because of the fact that ‘dark’ may be somewhat sensitive.”
Right. The UK version of the show is not big on sensitivity. “She’s really cold,” Bradley Walsh will muse as he introduces The Governess, or Frosty Knickers, as he sometimes prefers, “but that’s often the problem with old boilers.”
Dear, oh dear. The Chase
UK remains defiantly un-PC. “Indeed. But I’ve never been
offended by being called The Dark Destroyer. The only reason I was a bit hesitant is because there was a former world boxing champion called Nigel Benn who was known as the Dark Destroyer. I didn’t want to be seen to be nicking his nickname, but it’s just stuck.”
Wallace was in from the show’s start. “I’m the world’s first Chaser, I like to boast.” He was approached in 2008 to go before an ITV commissioning panel. “It was a tremendous success,” he says serenely. There were a couple more auditions before he was paired with Labbett to appear in a pilot in 2009. “The rest, as they say, is history.”
He certainly doesn’t suffer from false modesty. As he told Walsh during one teasing on-air assault on his performance, “Oh, please, I’m a champion.” He won Mastermind in 2004 – his subject in the final was “FA Cup finals since 1970” – with a score of 24 points and no passes. Amazing. “It was extraordinary because I was the first black person to apply for the show in its 20-year history. That’s what really catapulted me to fame.” In an online clip of his big moment, Wallace, who is of Jamaican heritage, holds the famous glass bowl trophy aloft in wonder, then hugs it tenderly.
I remind him of an online interview he did at the time where he does a triumphal little “Shaun ‘Da Brief’ Wallace” rap about the win: “… I’d like to shatter the myth, right? We’re not just runners …
We’re Mastermind champions,” he said.
“Exactly,” he says now.
“It’s true.” Growing up in London, he faced down some challenges. “I wanted to be a lawyer when I was 11 years old. Back in the 70s, when you were a young black boy and you wanted to be a professional, you weren’t exactly supported education-wise.” He was admitted to the bar in 1984. “It’s still to date the best thing that ever happened to me, because I talked the talk as a young boy and I’ve walked the walk. Even though I did have the odd setback along the way, I didn’t allow those setbacks to prevent me from achieving my ambitions and goals.” In 1999, he was also admitted to the Jamaican bar.
He doesn’t waste a lot of time worrying about those challenges. “Guess what? There’s underlying racism everywhere in the world. I don’t go looking for it and the best way to beat people who are racist is to use your talent to rise above it. That’s the way I’ve done it.”
He sounds quite driven.
He’s a member of three quiz teams – “I quiz four nights a week,” he says – and practises every day. “I record all the quiz shows and spend two hours just answering questions. I’m not interested in the questions I get correct. I’m interested in the questions I get wrong. That’s what helps me remember.”
He doesn’t tape shows such as QI. “It’s entertaining but it’s not a quiz.” No joke buzzers for him. “I prefer question-based quiz shows so I can actually answer the questions.”
Quizzing is a serious business, though the show’s celebrity specials, in which the likes of Nigel Havers, Jimmy Carr, Germaine Greer and even Basil Brush play for charity, add a touch of glamour. What’s that like?
“It’s a different slant from the ordinary shows, because if you had the same type of questions, to be honest I don’t think the celebrities would win.” Is he saying celebrities aren’t too bright? “I wouldn’t dream of saying that,” he says airily. “If you gave ordinary celebrities highbrow-type questions, they’re not going to know it.” Fair enough. Most people go on the show because they fancy themselves to be good at quizzing. “Exactly.”
It’s all good fun until a chase goes wrong. “The low moment is when you lose. I don’t like to lose. I don’t even like to get a question wrong. But I recognise that if the Chaser won all the time, who would want to go on the show? That’s why I’ll go and see the contestants afterwards if they win, because they deserve it. They beat me fair and square.”
Awkward moments? He’s had a few. “It is awkward when you lose a lot of money. I’ve lost £90,000, £75,000 … I feel a responsibility. It’s a lot of money. The best way to overcome that is to appear on the next show and make sure you win.”
In the UK the Chasers have become celebrities in their own right. Wallace has an autobiography coming out called, naturally, Chasing the Dream. He hopes to get down our way to promote it. It’s about giving something back, he says.
“There are a lot of celebrities who are selfish, who don’t want to help other people achieve a foot on the ladder because they’re frightened of the competition. I want people to realise that, 14 years ago, I could walk down the road and nobody would know who I was. Life hasn’t always been a bed of roses.
“I want people to be inspired by the fact that, despite some adversity in your life, you can overcome obstacles and achieve your dreams. That’s why I like to go into schools, colleges and prisons sometimes to talk about my life, my experiences. I’m really happy about how my life’s going and I think it’s important to try and inspire the next generation not only to be like me, but to be better than me.”
There is a downside to being a quiz-show legend: the tabloid sledging. Does it get to him? Please, he’s a champion.
“Not interested. They can say what they like. The only people I answer to are the producers. As long as they’re happy with me, then that’s fine. If they’re not, then you know what? They get somebody else. It’s as simple as that. I’ve had a great time, whatever.”
Well, more than eight years in, it all seems to be going pretty well. “Long may it last. I don’t take the fact that I’m on the show for granted. That’s what keeps me hungry and motivated.”
Win or lose, he’s up for it. The Dark Destroyer persona isn’t all an act. “The reason I put on the dour exterior is because I’m not there to muck about. I’m there to win.”