Yahoo News Darragh Ennis says The Chase producers told him to avoid social media over trolling
The Menace told The Chase viewers to go easier on the professional quizzers when they've had a bad day on the ITV quiz show.
The newest addition to The Chase's roster of quiz geniuses, Darragh Ennis, has revealed the social media pressure of being a Chaser, which led to producers advising him to stay away from abusive comments.
Ennis joined The Chase in 2020, having previously appeared as a contestant, and became the sixth member of the Chasers, nicknamed 'The Menace'. His debut episode broke the record for The Chase viewers.
The 43-year-old quizzer told OK! Magazine that he braces himself for a wave of hate on social media after each episode, especially when he hasn't performed to his usual high standards.
He said: "[The producers] said if I ever did get upset, to just stop [looking at social media]. But it's a large part of my CV.
"I quite like interacting with people about the show and answering people's questions and stuff. It could be such a nice, friendly place but it's not. It's horrible a lot of the time."
Ennis recalled one particular episode in which he wasn't happy with the final chase where he had lost to the contestants after getting a string of questions wrong.
"It got into my head and I just fell apart. I couldn't concentrate and I had a really bad performance," he explained.
Ennis added: "It happens every so often. But people were tagging me and saying how terrible I was and: 'Are you sure they're not going to sack you?'
"If I was the kind of person who let that get to me, I'd be like rocking backwards and forwards because it was dozens of people."
The star said he couldn't understand why people felt the need to tag celebrities in abusive comments on social media. He thanked his "bottomless self-confidence" for insulating him from trolls.
In the wake of the poor performance earlier this month, Ennis tweeted a plea to trolls to think about the real person behind the famous face.
On tonight's show, I had a bad few minutes. It got away from me and I started to miss the clues in the question. It happens, we all have bad days. I don't mind, but maybe consider what you post online about people who are in the public eye, it can be damaging. #TheChase
— Darragh Ennis (@bones_giles) January 9, 2024
Ennis, who is an entomologist and a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford University, is currently on TV screens on the teatime version of The Chase and the big-money primetime spin-off Beat the Chasers.
The Chase airs on ITV every weekday from 5pm, while the recent Beat the Chasers celebrity specials are available on ITVX.
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Watch: Trailer for Beat the Chasers
