Rachel Riley And Kirsty Gallacher Win Biggest Ever Payout On 'The Chase'

Sky Sports' Kirsty Gallacher and Countdown maths genius Rachel Riley have combined forces to win the biggest ever payout on The Chase.

The show is famed for its contestants losing out after opting to take the risk on a higher stakes game, but Riley and Gallacher's efforts proved successful.

Taking on the notorious Chasers, the pair raked in £160,000 between them on behalf of the charity Soccer Aid, which raises money for Unicef UK.

A source told the Sun: "Everybody was amazed with their efforts. Most of the time celebs make a bit of a fool of themselves trying to take on the likes of Anne Hegerty and co.

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"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."

Though the payouts up for grabs are often bigger on the celebrity version of the show, no one has raked in such a large prize in over a thousand episodes.

Riley is an Oxford graduate who studied at Oriel College, where she earned an upper-second class (2:1) degree in maths. This led her towards fame on Countdown, where she replaced Carol Vorderman as the show's go-to numbers expert.

Gallacher went to school at the independent Coworth Flexlands, and St George's School in Ascot before initially finding fame as a presenter on Sky Sports.

The pair's achievement is huge considering the intellect of the show's Chasers - Mark Labbett has appeared on Mastermind and University Challenge, and came runner-up in The People's Quiz while Shaun Wallace was himself a winner on Mastermind and also appeared on The Weakest Link.

Anne Hegerty, the Chaser who is believed to have faced Gallacher and Riley, was herself a contestant on Mastermind, University Challenge and The Weakest Link while Paul Sinha came sixth in the national quiz rankings and Jenny Ryan is an Only Connect winner. Basically, that's some high-level competition.

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Contestants on the celebrity version of the show are offered a £20,000 back-up (for charity) in case they don't win anything, as compensation for giving up their time for free.

Riley and Gallacher's achievement far outstrips the amount they would have earned (£0) had they come up short, which I would most certainly have done were I to face Anne Hegerty and co.

I'm not stupid, I'm just really bad when put on the spot. And a bit stupid.

Topics: TV and Film, the chase, UK Entertainment

Ronan O'Shea

Ronan J O'Shea is a freelance journalist from London who has written for titles including LADbible, Headspace, The Independent, National Geographic Traveller and New York Post. Contact him at [email protected].