While it was a repeat episode of The Chase, many claimed that the clock timer had stopped for longer than one second as Anne gave her final answer to Bradley Walsh, swiping £50,000 from the grasp of player Maggie.
Maggie, a 69-year-old retired court usher from Flintshire, was the last player to face Anne and managed to take £50,000 through to the final chase.
Creating a total of 18 to beat, Maggie also managed to secure push-backs.
However, Anne got an answer wrong, leaving just three seconds for Bradley to ask the final question, and Anne to reply with her answer.
Anne managed to answer within the time, but many viewers claimed Bradley had asked the question faster than usual, and that the timer was not accurate.
One viewer tweeted: “Once again Bradley spits out a question in 0.2 seconds for the Chaser #TheChase.”
“Why does Bradley Walsh always speed up on the last question? SCAM. Maggie gutted for ya! #thechase,” claimed another.
A third alleged: “He had 3 seconds to ask the question, the clock stopped at 1 second when she started to answer. What a fix! #TheChase.”
“Could bradley have said that last question any quicker??? absolute fix of a programme that #thechase,” raged another.
A fifth noted: “#TheChase Bradley speaks much faster for the chasers than the contestants. Listen how fast he gave that question at the end. Maggie was robbed.”
“Just watched my first episode of @TheChaseUK complete fix, it has to be….. #thechase,” wrote another.
One former contestant posted: “That was brutal! I was gutted when I lost £6K to Shaun with a score of 18… To lose £50K with one second remaining… OUCH! You did amazing Maggie! #TheChase.”
This is not the first time the show’s clock has been accused of pausing with one second remaining, with fans complaining at an episode broadcast in March.
A spokesperson for The Chase explained at the time: “Anne gave the final correct answer within the time remaining.
“The game control system stops the countdown as soon as the correct answer is given.
“On this specific example, the clock stopped with one second still showing, giving the appearance that the Chaser had more time to answer but, in fact, the Chaser had already given the correct answer, the clock had been stopped and the team had been caught with one second remaining on the clock.
“This was checked and confirmed by an independent adjudicator.”
They added: “This was explained to the contestants who accepted and agreed with the decision.”
Following her loss, contestant Maggie said: “Well played Anne! I’m no poorer than when I came in.”
