THE Chase is set to introduce a brand-new Chaser in a shock spin-off shake-up for upcoming episodes of the show.
Australian-born Issa Schultz is due to step in for an unnamed Chaser on the UK series who is due to be unavailable for filming.
Issa, 38 – dubbed The Supernerd on the Australian version of the show – has previously appeared alongside Mark Labbett and Anne Hegarty.
The eight-time winner of the Australian Quizzing Championships could be filling in for one of the Brit Chasers this week.
Issa has also appeared on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and The Einstein Factor – using his smarts across a wide range of TV.
TV Zone have reported that one of the long-standing Chasers is unable to film part of the next series, which begins recording on March 17.
The first episode will have a live studio audience sitting in at Elstree Studios, which will continue throughout the whole series.
It appears to be a dream come true for Issa, who two years ago revealed he had high hopes to appear on an overseas version of The Chase.
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He told the Daily Telegraph in 2019: “I would never leave the Australian version because I love it, it would be to do in addition.’
The news comes after The Chase viewers were left outraged as a contestant “hustled” Mark Labbett out of £20,000 by “bending the rules” of the show.
Four new players had a cheeky win against the Chaser after one of the clever competitors went for the high offer at the table opposite Mark, 56.
Twitter users suggested the player had purposefully answered the questions wrong in the first round to get a higher offer.
“He definitely played the chaser to get a higher offer!” one wrote.
A second joked: “He’s hustled him there, what a guy!” as a third said: “Definitely a hustle there. Like it a lot.”
“Simon bought a lottery ticket after the show and won £6 million…” a fourth viewer joked. “What a player. Well done Simon.”
The team went into the Final Chase with an impressive £29,000 in the prize pot, and scored an average 16 points.
While it appeared they had not made enough correct answers to take home the prize, Mark made a few uncharacteristic errors.
Coming down to the final few seconds, the team were announced as the winners, and took home the £29k jackpot.
