20-year-old Eden took home £75,000 after defeating Darragh Ennis on The Chase (Image: ITV)
TV history was made in 2021 after a 20-year old contestant a huge sum on ITV’s .
The beloved show, hosted by , was the scene of Eden from Bishop’s Stortford’s triumph as he collected £75,000.
At the time, Bradley was delighted to tell Eden that he had secured the biggest amount of prize money ever won on daytime TV show by a solo player, which as it turns out wasn’t entirely true.
There have been numerous big winners including one contestant banking an impressive £70,000 and a team securing £100,000 between them.
These are just some of the occasions where contestants took on the chasers and won far more than they bargained for.
Eden, 20, managed to bag a huge £75,000. It didn’t look good for Eden at first, as he managed to get just three questions right in the cash builder on the ITV show.
Bradley Walsh was gobsmacked on The Chase (Image: ITV)
But feeling lucky, he decided to take the higher offer and took on Chaser Darragh Ennis in the hope of winning £75,000.
He had shared his dream of using any prize money he secured to put towards a car, adding: “I suppose a car would be nice. But nothing snazzy. Just anything with four wheels.”
Darragh attempted to chase Eden down in the final Chase but it was to no avail as he got several questions wrong. With Eden securing a number of pushbacks, it meant Eden ended up being £70,000 richer.
“I can’t believe it! This is incredible, he’s 20 years old and just won £75,000,” an excited Bradley said as he rushed over to hug Eden and congratulate him on his win.
He exclaimed: “It’s the single highest win in daytime history.”
Darragh also praised Eden’s win, adding: “You did very well, it was all about the pushbacks in the end.”
The Chase contestant Judith won a whopping £70,000 (Image: ITV)
Before Eden’s record breaking win, Judith held the record for the most money won in a solo venture on the show.
She was taking on Jenny ‘The Vixen’ Ryan, who had successfully knocked out the other three team players.
“Extraordinary, £70,000, extraordinary. Highest figure ever won by a solo player, sensational,” host Bradley said as Judith secured the win. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
After the show, Jenny took to social media to congratulate Judith on her triumph.
“ALL HAIL JUDITH! If I remember correctly, Judith was a standby contestant, and only found out she was on the show 24 hours before recording,” she wrote on Twitter.
“I was well and truly beaten. #TheChase.”
Explaining where it went wrong for her, Jenny added: “Absolute perfect play by Judith. £70k at table with nothing to lose. She set a very strong 20, which forced me to rush slightly.”
“Then capitalised on my errors by nailing pushbacks – which further put the time pressure on me, leading to more errors.” She received a standing ovation from Jenny for her win.
The group split an impressive £100,000 on the show (Image: ITV)
Four contestants – Gayna, Tim, Luca and Diane – took on Anne Hegerty, also known as The Governess, and won an incredible £100,000, leading Bradley to declare that it was the “highest amount won on a daytime show ever”.
Gayna, Tim and Luca secured £14,000 between them whilst Diane decided to give a go at the higher offer of £86,000.
With £100,000 now in the prize pot and four contestants ready to take on The Governess, the team luckily managed to answer 21 questions whilst also securing a push back against The Chaser and thus pushing their total up to 22.
But Anne was unable to beat their score, telling them as they won: “Very well played. You deserve it.”
Rachel Riley and Kirsty Gallacher won a massive £160,000 (Image: ITV)
Celebrity shows tend to get much higher offers but the biggest win for a set of famous faces was for Countdown star Rachel Riley and television presenter Kirsty Gallacher.
The duo teamed up to win a huge £160,000 for their chosen charity – Soccer Aid, which raises money for Unicef.
They took on Shaun Wallace – also know as The Dark Destroyer – and managed to get 16 answers right, whilst Shaun could only chase them to the 11 question mark.
“Everybody was amazed with their efforts,” a source told The Sun at the time.
“Most of the time celebs make a bit of a fool of themselves trying to take on the likes of Anne Hegerty and co. But Kirsty and Rachel absolutely destroyed the Chaser and went home with a massive pot of cash for a great cause.”
“They were very pleased with themselves.”