The Chase (2021) - General Discussion

[Rickster]

While I like that Sara is reading much more quickly, she doesn’t enunciate as clearly as Brooke, which makes her harder to understand.

[Fellaway]

2 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Reading the questions faster gives the contestants more time to build cash. If she reads too slowly they're going to get fewer questions overall.

Exactly. Time is of extreme essence on this show. Brooke's ability to read super-fast, with virtually no fumblemouth, is one of the reasons James and his team were able to get to 26 on their final chase. (James' immense breadth of trivia knowledge being the other.) Even The Beast quaked in his boots at having to beat 26. Watching Brooke keep up with James and The Beast, overall, is awesome.

She is awesome in all ways. Brooke has to be one of my fave game show hosts of all time. I don't dislike Sara, but I'd trade her in in a nanosecond to have Brooke hosting. Too bad Brooke is tied to The Chase's lesser cousin, Masterminds, and Sara was already on ABC's payroll.

[Cherpumple]

On 6/7/2021 at 8:21 PM, Diana Berry said:

Have they ever thought about having the same questions for the contestants and the chaser in the final round ? (the chaser would have to wear headphones or be isolated)

If they did that they'd have to cut out the "push back" element of the final (which allows the contestants to gain a point back if they get the question right.) Also, it's boring to hear the same set of questions twice. They did this on older episodes of Masterminds and it sucked. Actually, they read the final five questions three times in a row- once for the challenger, once for the Mastermind, and once to give the answers. Now they just read the questions once, have both players write down their answers, then reveal the answer. SOOO much better.

[Josh371982]

On 6/9/2021 at 7:00 AM, LennieBriscoe said:

Because too fast can make the reading difficult to understand for the home "player," let alone for closed-captioning. 

But bully for you.

Oh ok it was something I was just wondering about. I get it more now 

[853fisher]

On 6/8/2021 at 3:44 AM, LennieBriscoe said:

I wanted to clarify my point, re: contestants losing everything, with no "runner-up" award. I dislike this aspect on whatever show.

I agree with you, on general principles, that game shows ought to award at least a small prize to everyone, especially now that most of them cast from around the country but don't pay travel expenses.

A year's supply of couscous, a wristwatch, and the home game was one thing when few players seemed to have come far and the top prizes weren't as rich as they are now either.  This show in particular ought to have some room in their budget, especially as often as they get away with giving away nothing in the main game, for a consolation prize.

Even "25 Words or Less," which appears to be made for syndication at about $1.50 an episode, can spare a sponsored gift worth a few hundred dollars for the player who loses the main game and a nice vacation if a winner misses the $10,000 bonus round prize.  "Jeopardy!" the prestige show with top ratings, manages $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place, supported by a sponsor.

So I think they could manage something in the neighborhood between these amounts, a smaller amount for a contestant who doesn't make it to the Final Chase and a larger amount for a contestant who is defeated there.  I'd be behind that all the way.  If they didn't want to dilute the "or you leave with nothing!" they could put in the fine print at the end that some consideration has been provided to the losers.

[kathyk24]

5 hours ago, 853fisher said:

I agree with you, on general principles, that game shows ought to award at least a small prize to everyone, especially now that most of them cast from around the country but don't pay travel expenses.

A year's supply of couscous, a wristwatch, and the home game was one thing when few players seemed to have come far and the top prizes weren't as rich as they are now either.  This show in particular ought to have some room in their budget, especially as often as they get away with giving away nothing in the main game, for a consolation prize.

Even "25 Words or Less," which appears to be made for syndication at about $1.50 an episode, can spare a sponsored gift worth a few hundred dollars for the player who loses the main game and a nice vacation if a winner misses the $10,000 bonus round prize.  "Jeopardy!" the prestige show with top ratings, manages $2,000 for second place and $1,000 for third place, supported by a sponsor.

So I think they could manage something in the neighborhood between these amounts, a smaller amount for a contestant who doesn't make it to the Final Chase and a larger amount for a contestant who is defeated there.  I'd be behind that all the way.  If they didn't want to dilute the "or you leave with nothing!" they could put in the fine print at the end that some consideration has been provided to the losers.

There are many smart people who can't afford to miss a day of work. Not offering some small cash prize makes networks like ABC and the Food Network look really cheap.

[illdoc]

You'd think, with arms that sunburned, Sara would have worn something with sleeves!

[Bliss]

And another 3 bite the dust... after a close finish.

I didn't find the Beast that much more sarcastic than James/Ken/Brad - in fact, he was almost kind at times.

I do wish they'd have the same questions for both the contestants and the Chaser in the final round. I don't think it would be boring as I'd feel smarter listening to them a second time - I'd know ALL the answers (LOL, if I could remember them all); secondly, there'd be no "push back".

[Fellaway]

1 hour ago, illdoc said:

You'd think, with arms that sunburned, Sara would have worn something with sleeves!

The set for this iteration of The Chase seems, to me, overly busy and garish even for a game show, and I've come to the conclusion that the lighting is not flattering to Sara. Nevermind how ridiculously small and not intimidating the Chasers look at the top of that huge board. Even The Beast!

1 hour ago, Bliss said:

I didn't find the Beast that much more sarcastic than James/Ken/Brad - in fact, he was almost kind at times.

That's one thing I always liked about The Beast. The trashtalking does come more easily and naturally to him, with humor, than it does the other Chasers, but he always gave credit where credit was due to the contestants at the end along with the occasional dash of self-deprecation and sympathy.

[MrAtoz]

On 6/11/2021 at 5:46 PM, kathyk24 said:

There are many smart people who can't afford to miss a day of work.

There are also smart people who could afford it, but don't have the kind of boss who will say, "Sure, you can have a few days off next week."  We discussed a couple of years ago in the Jeopardy thread that you often have to already be somewhat financially secure to be able to appear on a game show, and it's actually very possible to end up financially in the hole when you're done, given airfare, hotel expenses, and paltry or non-existent consolation prizes.

[Snow Apple]

The first guy was lucky at guessing but made up for it in the final chase. Even the Beast acknowledged that.

The woman was ok and made it to the finals which is what mattered.

Like last week, the third guy banked the most money for the team. I bet he could have banked the high offer.

Alas, they were up against the Beast. It’s rare that he loses. When he was revealed as the chaser, I said “uh oh”

[Rickster]

8 hours ago, Bliss said:

I didn't find the Beast that much more sarcastic than James/Ken/Brad - in fact, he was almost kind at times.

 

I wonder sometimes if they edit comments out. He was more loquacious and meaner on the daytime version. He might also be trying to tone it down for the larger primetime audience, given how social media works these days.
 

I thought the first guy had more obscure questions than the other two contestants.

I found Sarah’s shiny skin a bit distracting.

[MarquisDeCarabas]

As good as that team was, if James doesn’t jump the gun on the Vanderbilt question and lets Sara say city, he catches them. 
What makes the chasers so good is their ability to lock in. Especially when the pressure gets turned up. You could just see the fear on Liz’s face as he got closer. Even when the chaser loses 90+% of the time they answered more questions correctly than the team. 3 step head start and 4 pushbacks means he had 23 correct answers to the team’s 18.  I’m not sure contestants can win without the pushbacks. 

[Maverick]

 So, did James take a dive?   He was obviously really trying in the final round but letting not one but two players taking the higher offer get by?

 I wish they would let the contestants pick which set of questions. 

[Bliss]

Enjoyed this! Great competition, with excellent contestants + James as chaser. Loved the contestants going for the BIG money! ... and then winning in an exciting finish!

I really (really!) wish the writers would work at shortening the questions, especially for the final chase.

[Snow Apple]

I don't think I've seen James miss that many questions before. The middle woman could have moved ahead even if she took the high offer. But I'm glad this team won. 

[iMonrey]

Quote

 So, did James take a dive?   He was obviously really trying in the final round but letting not one but two players taking the higher offer get by?

That crossed my mind as well. It's so rare for anybody to take the high offer let alone two contestants in the same game and then having both of them bank it. Wow. 

That final chase was a real nail biter even if James did throw it  I do, however, think the questions are a bit easier this season. Not sure if I like that or not.

[853fisher]

Call me naive (don't you dare! 😉) but I trust the results of mainstream game shows easily.  The consequences of a fix, both in terms of federal law and the court of public opinion if it were revealed, seem to outweigh the benefits of achieving a "desired" result.

I was a little surprised by how well things went for the team, but it was nice to see a hefty sum given away.  These three just seemed really on it.  Maybe they cast this season a little differently?  Almost everyone seems to know where they are for a change.

The one thing that struck me odd was all the talk about how the results in this show compared to the rest of the season.  It must have been among the last taped, but for the audience, it's only the third one, so I might have left those comments in the editing suite.

[Snow Apple]

I also noticed how they said this group is the best of the season (they didn't say "so far") and how they all were excited when the first contestant picked the high offer, especially the beast.

I guess we shouldn't get our hopes up that the rest of the episodes are this exciting?

[seacliffsal]

I don't like the 3 question advantage that the contestants get for the final chase.  However, having said that, I did like this group of contestants and good for them for winning.  I also think some of the comments indicated this was filmed later in the season so it will be interesting to see the rest of the episodes.

I wonder why James pretty much wanted to guarantee that nobody would take the "one step closer" option with the low offers he made to the contestants (well, the last two anyway).

[Madding crowd]

After a few lackluster shows with contestants that didn’t make much in the cash builder round and generally seemed lacking in trivia knowledge, this group were amazing. It did cross my mind that James was asked to take a dive since I don’t remember him missing questions before and there have never been such low offers . 

[junemeatcleaver]

What was up with Sara calling James "High Roller"?  Annoying.

[Madding crowd]

They all have a nickname: James is Highroller, Ken The Professor, Brad The Buzzsaw and then of course, The Beast. Silly but fits in with the show.

[MrAtoz]

I wonder if the Chaser is actually the one in control of what the high and low offers are.  I suspect that's chosen by the producers, and fed to the Chaser on a screen that only they can see.  I can't imagine them allowing a Chaser to potentially blow the whole season's prize budget on a whim.

I also doubt that James would throw the game.  For one thing, it doesn't seem to be in his nature.  He strikes me as very competitive.  People wondered about that when he lost on Jeopardy, too, and I just don't see it.  Good as he is, he's still a human being, which means he's not perfect.  There are going to be things he doesn't know.  And the first contestant got every question right in their head-to-head matchup.  There was no way James could have caught up to her.

All modern game shows take the possibility of cheating and collusion very seriously, and have layers of security to make sure it doesn't happen.  Even as a contestant, things you're not allowed to do are drilled into you.  I'm sure that for people who work on the show, it's even more so.

[Fellaway]

13 hours ago, junemeatcleaver said:

What was up with Sara calling James "High Roller"?  Annoying.

Yeah, I don't remember her actually calling them by their nicknames in conversation, instead of their real names, in Season 1. It worked on GSN's The Chase, with Brooke calling Mark "Beast" or "Beastie" because she did that exclusively from the get and it sounded natural. Not like here, where we know these guys as Ken and Brad and James, and not by these obviously made up for the show nicknames. It was awkward.

I also smelled the faint aroma of fish while watching this episode. I won't say cheating was involved because, hey, that's just not worth it to the network, but I did think the contestants got easier questions than the norm on this show, especially in their final round. I dunno, maybe the network was hoping to create some buzz for the show by the contestants winning such a huge pot, hence James' ridiculously low bottom offers on the board, easier questions, etc. What really puzzles me is why James missed so many. That was not a typical James performance at all.

[Snow Apple]

I don’t remember what questions James missed but it’s difficult to keep up with all pop culture so I’m not surprised those get missed more than factual question.

 I don’t think James took a dive because of strict game show rules that are still in place from the scandals of the 50’s, and because he missed too many not to look suspicious. 

[Fellaway]

I don't think James took a dive, either. He's too competitive for that. That's why his performance was puzzling to me. He was definitely not on his game.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I wonder if the Chaser is actually the one in control of what the high and low offers are.  I suspect that's chosen by the producers, and fed to the Chaser on a screen that only they can see.

Oh, I'm certain it's production. No way the chaser has that kind of power. It's not his money.

Quote

 I don’t think James took a dive because of strict game show rules that are still in place from the scandals of the 50’s, and because he missed too many not to look suspicious. 

For one thing there are ways of getting around those rules, and they aren't nearly as strict as you think they are. The advent of Reality TV has really blurred the lines on what "fixing" means. For another thing, there's a big difference between secretly giving the answers to the contestants and encouraging the celebs to go easier on them.

I don't know whether or not production urged James to take a dive, but there's nothing preventing him, on his own, from missing a question on purpose. There's no way to prove he did or didn't do it. I tend to agree it's unlikely given his nature. Then again I find it suspicious he missed not one but two in the cash builder where the contestant took the high offer. That, too, seems unlikely.

Quote

 It worked on GSN's The Chase, with Brooke calling Mark "Beast" or "Beastie" because she did that exclusively from the get and it sounded natural. Not like here, where we know these guys as Ken and Brad and James, and not by these obviously made up for the show nicknames. It was awkward.

Brooke and The Beast had a fun and playful rapport. Sarah doesn't really have that with any of the Chasers on this version. Which is why I questioned the wisdom and/or necessity of adding The Beast to the mix.

Edited June 22, 2021 by iMonrey

[GenerationX]

I believe the producers give the Chasers a range for the low and high values.  That allows the Chasers to pick a number fitting the situation and their personality, while giving the producers significant control.  The Chasers have commented on each others' amounts, so I think they have some latitude here.

The Chasers are too competitive with each other (and themselves) to want to throw a game, even to well-deserving contestants like this last set.  Between that and my suspicion they are incented monetarily by the producers to win, I think the Chasers always play to win.

Brooke had an advantage Sara doesn't have - Brooke had only one Chaser.  It was easier for the two of them to get into a rhythm.  Brooke did well with the Beast and certainly was a master at reading fast with very clear enunciation.  She did a great job.

But I think Sara is better in every way except enunciation.  Sara is more charming and genuine.  Sara is much funnier and will take shots at the Chasers.  They're both easy on the eyes, but I would put Sara a notch above Brooke here, too.  Overall, I find Sara more entertaining and that makes for a better show.

Edited June 23, 2021 by GenerationX

[meowmommy]

I think this team almost had to win in order to save the show.  If a team that good (and they were great) had lost, what hope would there be for any team?  I for one would not enjoy watching a show where you expect the contestants to lose every single time.  These aren’t the Harlem Globetrotters. 
 

[Cherpumple]

On 6/21/2021 at 12:13 AM, Maverick said:

So, did James take a dive?   He was obviously really trying in the final round but letting not one but two players taking the higher offer get by?

 I wish they would let the contestants pick which set of questions. 

I doubt he took a dive. If the contestants play well in their individual rounds (as they did tonight), there's nothing the chaser can do to catch them, so they would have made it through to the final even if he had done better. Also, I noticed last season that while James is usually an excellent guesser, I was surprised by how many answers he didn't know outright. I think this week's questions just fell outside his knowledge base and his attempts to reason through them failed. That being said, I'm most surprised that he missed the "wooder" accent question, but I guess I'm biased as an East coaster who has long made fun of the various accents in the mid-atlantic region.

In the final round I think the contestants do pick which set of questions they get, but it's edited out of the broadcast (just like they've mostly cut out the team members giving each other advice about which offer to take). On the GSN version, Brooke always specified that the team chose set A or B.

On 6/21/2021 at 1:55 PM, 853fisher said:

The one thing that struck me odd was all the talk about how the results in this show compared to the rest of the season.

It wouldn't surprise me if they shuffled the air dates for the episodes to avoid having too many "losing" shows in a row. As seen here, a lot of fans get discouraged by seeing the contestants walk away with nothing, and I can see the show losing viewers if it happens week after week. This episode was definitely the shot in the arm the show needed to make it seem exciting and winnable.

On 6/21/2021 at 8:40 PM, junemeatcleaver said:

What was up with Sara calling James "High Roller"?  Annoying.

Aside from the other comments above about the show pushing the chasers' silly nicknames, James lives in Las Vegas and was/is a professional gambler (I think poker and sports betting).

On 6/21/2021 at 7:01 AM, Bliss said:

I really (really!) wish the writers would work at shortening the questions, especially for the final chase.

Me too. I've noticed that on shows where you're allowed to buzz in before the full question has been read, they often try to trip people up by making the wording convoluted and/or putting the most important info at the end (like the Vanderbilt question that James missed because he jumped the gun and assumed they were asking about the state, not the city).

I noticed Sarah reverting to the slower reading pace of the questions in the final chase, which annoyed me. I hope she keeps practicing to find a happy medium of speed and clear enunciation.

[MrAtoz]

7 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

It wouldn't surprise me if they shuffled the air dates for the episodes to avoid having too many "losing" shows in a row. As seen here, a lot of fans get discouraged by seeing the contestants walk away with nothing, and I can see the show losing viewers if it happens week after week.

This is one of the things I've been wondering about this show and its long-term chances.  On the GSN version, it was relatively rare for the contestant teams to win.  The Beast usually caught them in the final chase, and they went home with nothing.  I wonder how something like that will play on prime time network TV.  How many viewers will want to watch a show where contestants can answer a whole bunch of questions correctly, accumulate a huge amount of money, and then lose it all through no fault of their own, just because the Chaser was better?  People like to see contestants winning, I think, so the show is going to have to give that to the audience somehow.  It won't be much fun to watch teams lose week after week after week.

Does anybody happen to be familiar with the original British version of the show, and know how often contestants win on that version?

[GenerationX]

U.K. version stats.

U.S. version stats and episode sequence.

It's rare that I root for the contestants to win, so I'm fine with the Chasers winning most of the time.

 

[Good Queen Jane]

I stated during the first season that I only watch because I like the Jeopardy Chasers a lot so I am always rooting for the Chaser to win. I think that's the advantage of having well known Chasers. I was pretty neutral  with the Beast. I think it helps that none of the contestants have sad stories about needing the winnings to pay for their sick child's medicine or things like that. Their plans for their winnings seem pretty frivolous/fun.

[Iseut]

I really don't believe that James took a dive. I don't think either game show rules or his ego would allow that.

One thing I noticed last season; I don't think he has quite the depth or breadth of trivia knowledge that Ken or Brad do (I'm not as familiar with the Beast). James obviously knows a LOT, but comparatively, I believe he made his mark more on his "high roller" strategizing and knowing the right things at the right time. He's also extremely confident, which goes a long way in the intimidation factor. I haven't gathered the specific data, but I do think I've noticed that he misses a couple more questions on average than the others do. 

[meowmommy]

36 minutes ago, Iseut said:

I really don't believe that James took a dive. I don't think either game show rules or his ego would allow that.

I don't believe it either, any more than I believe he took a dive when he lost to Emma on Jeopardy.  The conspiracy theorists don't understand, any more than some of the contestants do, how to bet when you go into Final in second or third place. 

I also don't get how the other Chasers were ragging on James for "letting" the team win during the individual chases.  The Chaser can only catch them if the team members get the questions wrong, and IIRC, among the three of them, they only missed one question during the entire individual chases.  Nothing James could have done to change that outcome. 

But it's pretty damn scary that James went into the final round needing 21 and still barely lost.

12 hours ago, Cherpumple said:

It wouldn't surprise me if they shuffled the air dates for the episodes to avoid having too many "losing" shows in a row.

According to the game Wiki, this was actually the 14th episode of the season.

[Ailianna]

6 hours ago, Good Queen Jane said:

I stated during the first season that I only watch because I like the Jeopardy Chasers a lot so I am always rooting for the Chaser to win. I think that's the advantage of having well known Chasers. I was pretty neutral  with the Beast. I think it helps that none of the contestants have sad stories about needing the winnings to pay for their sick child's medicine or things like that. Their plans for their winnings seem pretty frivolous/fun.

Though if I were going on a show where there were so many ways to walk out empty handed, I wouldn't want anything important to be depending on my success.

[alexa]

I thought it was surprising that the first guy went for the high amount…it sounds nice but if it kicks you out of the game, much better to go for a lower amount.  I didn’t see much of the second person, and only saw the final chase of the last.  It sounds like everyone was very impressed with her.

[Whimsy]

2 hours ago, alexa said:

I thought it was surprising that the first guy went for the high amount…it sounds nice but if it kicks you out of the game, much better to go for a lower amount.  I didn’t see much of the second person, and only saw the final chase of the last.  It sounds like everyone was very impressed with her.

The 2nd person was horrible.  I was hoping for better since she's from my home town, but she only got 3 questions right.  Which, I doubt I could do that lol.  But, still, on this show- that was horrible.  that final lady was amazing.  She was calm and cool under pressure and she knew a lot of the questions.  She should be made a chaser!  She should make the rounds of trivia shows so she can get the popularity/recognition and be on this show lol.  That was impressive.

[LennieBriscoe]

Brad didn't know "Alice in Wonderland"?! 

 

[SHD]

I usually root for the chasers, and I still kind of was last night, but the last woman standing deserved to win. She had a good depth of knowledge and made use of the pushbacks - without those she probably would've lost. And I like contestants who actually know answers and explain why and not ones who get through the banking round when clearly just luckily guessing their way through.

 

[saber5055]

I very much enjoyed last night's episode. Natasha rocked it, and for the first time ever, I was rooting for her to win, not the Chaser to catch her. She was amazing and deserved to go home with the money.

On a more shallow note, I couldn't stop looking at her dress, which looked like it had Scotties all over it, except they weren't Scotties. I show Scotties and I would love to have that dress, everyone at the dog show would want one too.

Most hilarious line of the night: "Oh, an Iowa wedding! I love that!" --Sarah

Sorry Sarah, Iowa is NOT at the top of the list for destination weddings.

What did make me LOL, literally, was Brad admitting how he knew coprolite. Actually, that's also how I knew it, which made it even funnier.

For anyone complaining that losers go home with nothing, tune in to Press Your Luck sometime. Two players every week go home with zip, and last week even the "winner" went home with nada. And all they do is yell "NO WHAMMIES!" and push a button for their skills. But it's typical for the winner to go home with way more than $100,000, so the smart players from The Chase can go press their luck on that show if they really REALLY need the cash.

[Driad]

48 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

I show Scotties and I would love to have that dress

If you sew, or could get a garment made, try searching for scottie dog fabric on sites such as Etsy.

[Fellaway]

I still feel the questions on this iteration of The Chase are quite a bit easier than on GSN's, and Sara seems to have gone back to slow-asking the questions in the final round, but I do love me some Brad. He has a great dry wit - Loved his reaction when the contestant said she'd never seen him playing better. - and he seems to have a better rapport with Sara than she has with the other Chasers.

I dunno, on the GSN version, I always rooted for the contestants. On this version, I root for the Chaser. A consequence of knowing them and having been invested in their success on other game shows in the past, perhaps.

[SoMuchTV]

I can totally get why some watchers would want to root for the chaser.  But what bugs me is that, if the chaser wins, nobody (except the network/show budget) wins.  Seems like the whole point of pretty much every game show ever is to give away money/prizes, in exchange for viewers/advertisers.  Maybe if the chasers had a charity that benefited if they won, I could feel a little better about rooting for the chaser.

[saber5055]

1 hour ago, SoMuchTV said:

Seems like the whole point of pretty much every game show ever is to give away money/prizes, in exchange for viewers/advertisers.

See my comment above re: Press Your Luck. If your financial independence depends on winning a game show, don't come on this one.

2 hours ago, Driad said:

If you sew, or could get a garment made, try searching for scottie dog fabric on sites such as Etsy.

I have lots of Scottie clothing items. I just wanted to add Natasha's dress to my wardrobe.

Edited June 28, 2021 by saber5055

[SoMuchTV]

22 minutes ago, saber5055 said:

See my comment above re: Press Your Luck. If your financial independence depends on winning a game show, don't come on this one.

Oh I get that.  But my gripe is not so much that the player doesn't get the money, it's that the show doesn't give away any money the majority of the time.  It seems like with most game shows, somebody walks away with a prize of some kind, even if it's not the "big" one.  It sort of feels like the show has a financial incentive for nobody to win.  I guess their philosophy is that as long as contestant(s) win once in a while, that's enough to keep people interested.

[saber5055]

9 minutes ago, SoMuchTV said:

I guess their philosophy is that as long as contestant(s) win once in a while, that's enough to keep people interested.

Maybe it's just me, but I watch this show for the trivia, not to see someone win money. That's neither here nor there with me, although I liked Natasha and it was nice she won some cash. She put up a strong challenge against Brad, and it made the show fun. But if she only got a blue ribbon and a trophy for beating The Chaser, I'd still tune in next week. That money is won or not won means nothing, it's all about the trivia for me. If I beat Brad on The Chase, I'd be all about those bragging rights. Money goes away, bragging rights stay forever.

Of course this is a capitalistic society so your point is understood. Obviously, MMV.

[iMonrey]

Quote

I dunno, on the GSN version, I always rooted for the contestants. On this version, I root for the Chaser. A consequence of knowing them and having been invested in their success on other game shows in the past, perhaps.

Yeah I'm surprised so many people root for the Chaser because I always imagine playing the game, and as a player you want to win, not to lose. I'm not a big Jeopardy fan so I never saw any of these guys win on Jeopardy and have no investment in any of them. I watched the GSN version of The Chase so I know The Beast but I don't root for him either. The whole point of the Chaser is to have an arrogant persona and taunt/insult the players. He's not the contestant here, he's the antagonist. I find it odd to watch a show where you root for the players to lose. 

Quote

Maybe it's just me, but I watch this show for the trivia, not to see someone win money.

Yeah, same. Even though statistically the players usually lose I still tune in to see if I can answer the questions myself.

Edited June 28, 2021 by iMonrey

[Ailianna]

10 hours ago, LennieBriscoe said:

Brad didn't know "Alice in Wonderland"?! 

 

He doesn't have kids. I know Ken and James both do. I don't know about the new guy whose name hasn't lodged in my head yet. So both Disney movies and Disneyland are not probably his wheelhouse.

What I find amazing is that last week with James having all those push backs in the final round, people immediately jumped on to the " did James throw the game?" nonsense. With Brad, who--as Ken noted--had at least one self-inflicted wound, not one person brings that up. Yet for a really long time, Brad was the guy who was never beaten by any human at Jeopardy!, who routinely clobbered Ken at tournaments, and had all kinds of records for amount of money won. He just wasn't originally playing when you could go beyond five games (part of why he'd never lost to a human being), or during the current raging social media culture.

If James played the exact games he played a couple years ago in the era when Brad did, probably only the real Jeopardy! fans would know him. Since the show used James for publicity and pushed him so hard on social media, apparently a lot of people think he's the greatest great who ever greated and can answer any question. He's very smart and very quick and good at trivia. Meaning he's a lot like the other chasers on this show but still just human.