The Chase viewers left outraged after contestant takes ‘insulting’ minus offer

Fans of the popular ITV teatime gameshow The Chase were left seething this week, when one contestant not only took the minus offer, but went for one which saw an eye-watering £11,000 taken off her team’s total.

Jo, from Harrogate, was the last to take on Jenny “The Vixen” Ryan on Thursday’s episode, after fellow contestants Hassan and Luke secured £23,000 and £6,000 respectively.

The last team member Shirley wasn’t so lucky in her chase with The Vixen, though, and she was sent packing before the final chase.

After bagging £2,000 in the cash builder, Jo was presented with the lower and higher offers – to either make it easier to get through to the final chase or grab more cash for her team.

She had a choice of taking a step closer to The Vixen for £46,000, sticking with the £2,000 she had already secured, or knocking off £11,000 off the cash pot to take a step closer to safety.

Considering her options, Jo told host Bradley Walsh: “We need a team back there, noone’s going to win any money without a good team. I’m going to take the minus.”

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After Walsh whistled in shock, she added: “There’s no money until you win it. We need a team to win it.”

While the presenter was taken aback by Jo’s decision, The Vixen seemed to accept her choice, saying: “It’s all a fictional amount of money until that final chase is over and you’ve beaten me.

“Much more likely with three of you, than two of you.”

The trio did indeed win against the chaser in the final chase, but we suspect Hassan and Luke we’re expecting to take home more than £6,000 each.

Although we couldn’t tell what the two of them were thinking following the win, we know many viewers were fuming at Jo’s contribution to the team – if you can call it that.

“The reason why the UK has gone to s*** is because there are people amongst us that would go on The Chase and happily take a minus 11k offer,” wrote one Twitter user.

Another commented: “Jo: ‘I’m going to take the -£11k as you need a team to win’. Also Jo: ‘Does not contribute whatsoever during the final round’.”

“Twitter, to the pitchforks,” cried a third.

One claimed they had “never been so outraged” at a TV programme in their life, while another Twitter user went so far as to say “Boris Johnson is no longer the least popular person in the UK”.

Hassan and Luke’s reaction to the whole scandal didn’t go unnoticed either, as one viewer remarked: “Love the lads ignoring her as she goes past cos she took 11k off the total.”

We’d be livid too, to be fair.

It isn't the first time that something shocking has happened on The Chase, as it was only days ago that a contestant scored a full house of 11 correct answers during the cash builder round, with Walsh declaring "the show's over" as a result.

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