The contestants – we’ll call them Michael, Carole and Georgia (because that’s their names) – got viewers very angry after taking an offer of £300, then two minus offers of -£1,000 and -£2,000, respectively.
So, the trio might have found themselves playing for £6,300 in the final round with poor Darragh, but they now had to face the wrath of Twitter…
Host Bradley Walsh was also a tad shocked by the turn, saying "it's only the fourth time ever in Chase history that three players have gone low and got through. Negated all the way along. Extraordinary game, but it's a full house."
Before the final round, chaser Paul Sinha added: "It is a full house. The fact of the matter is they stand at firm favourites to win the final chase. The key of course is that Darragh is a very nice man and he's not letting this get to him at all. He's only come for a door."
Fortunately Darragh went away from the show with the prize money, but only £1575 of it after the pot was evenly split.
However, Darragh himself had the last word, taking to Twitter to defend his teammates.
And just in case all this is Golden Balls levels of jargon, here's how that stage of The Chase is played...
Contestants are tasked to “head to home” across a seven-step money board: each correct answer they give to a question brings them a step closer to home, each wrong answer leaves them where they are, with the possibility that the genius Chaser could answer the question correctly and move forward a space. If the Chaser catches up to the contestant then it’s game over.
Although the Chaser always starts at the top of the board, it’s up to the contestant to pick how many spaces they want to stay ahead. If you want only a couple of spaces between the two of you (like Darragh did), you’ll earn the most money. Vice versa, if you want a four-space breather between yourself and the Chaser then you’ll earn a low amount for your team – possibly even a minus number, like Carole and Georgia opted for. You’ll have a better chance of getting to the next round, but you’ll shrink the pot for everyone else.
So it takes bravery, and a willingness to increase the pot for yourself and your teammates, to go for a large amount. But if the person who goes before you has already done the hard work, then you might wish to play it safe like the thieves contestants did this week...
