Darragh Ennis, known as ‘The Menace’ on The Chase, has spilled the beans on a piece of equipment that ITV bosses have forbidden the Chasers from using. Darragh joined the popular quiz show in 2021, after first appearing as a contestant.
The 43 year old is one of six Chasers, alongside fan favourites Mark Labbett, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Jenny Ryan and Shaun Wallace. On the show, which is set to mark its 15th anniversary later this month, one Chaser faces off against a team of four, aiming to prevent them from winning a large cash prize.
Speaking on the ‘Happy Hour’ podcast, the Irish-born quizzer revealed that Chasers are not allowed to use an autocue app when asked about the most unusual app on his phone. He explained: “It’s an autocue app because I do a lot of social media stuff and, despite my memory being good, I tend to wander off the point and get distracted, so to keep me focussed I have an autocue app.”
He added: “I used to be dreadful [at reading it] but now I’m okay. When I first did it my missus said to me ‘you’re so bad at this, you need to practice. It’s harder than it looks.”
During the conversation, host Jack mentioned that he was asked by SportBible if he could use an earpiece for producers to communicate with him, reports the Express.
Jack expressed his certainty that Darragh would have had to use a buzzer on The Chase, but was taken aback when the quiz expert responded that the Chasers are “not allowed, for obvious reasons”.
Before joining the ranks of The Chase, Darragh held positions as a laboratory manager and research technician in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oxford. He is an alumnus of Maynooth University, where he earned a BSc in biology in 2003, followed by a PhD in ecology in 2008.
After earning his doctorate, Darragh spent a year working as a biomedical scientist at ICON, before moving on to postdoctoral research at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada, from 2010 to 2012.
During the podcast, Darragh didn’t hold back in criticising the “congenital idiots” who choose not to get vaccinated and would “rather die than be autistic”, revealing that his fellow Chaser Anne is also affected by the condition.
He commented: “That’s another weird thing isn’t it? . ‘Oh I’d rather die than be autistic’, what an awful take. Anne Hegerty on The Chase is autistic. If you go ‘would you rather be the Governess or dead? ‘, that’s an easy choice. That’s a binary choice because she’s doing all right.”