ITV respond as The Chase episodes pulled from TV schedule amid budget cuts
The Chase and several other shows have had episodes pulled from the TV schedule, including Romesh Ranganathan’s Parents' Evening, the 1% Club, and Deal or No Deal.
Whilst the TV schedule being reshuffled is a pretty normal occasion, particularly considering ITV are dropping a stealth documentary this weekend on Reform UK which they have sat on for a year, fans on social media were shocked to discover that several upcoming already filmed episodes of TV were not set to be aired.
The Chase is the biggest name of the nine TV shows which have had episodes pulled from the schedule, with contestants taking to social media to state that their episodes had been ‘postponed’.
In addition to The Chase and the three series already mentioned, upcoming new episodes of Long Lost Family, Beat the Chasers, Deal or no Deal, Password, Bullseye, and Josie Gibson’s Big Country Build have all been pulled from the schedule and replaced with reruns.
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ITV responded to LADbible with a statement in which they seemed to claim this was standard practice, saying: “ITV's schedules are confirmed and billed two weeks in advance of broadcast. Until this point all scheduling is subject to change.”
They have received criticism online however with TV commentator Chuck Thomas accusing ITV of having ‘lost the plot’ on The TV Podcast.
Thomas’ co-host Greg Scott claimed that the series will ‘haemorrhage’ viewers, stating that a big part of The Chase is being able to follow along with the contestants you enjoy.
One fan on X responded saying: “The Chase is a tea time juggernaut for ITV can’t see them cutting that.”
The decision to replace new episodes with reruns has been an ongoing issue for The Chase, though now eight different shows have joined them in being pulled from schedules.
In September Mark Scott, aka The Beast, was the first chaser from the ITV show to speak out about this, responding to a fan query on X.
The fan had asked: “After nearly six months of repeat episodes of The Chase, we had two weeks of new episodes, and now we are back to repeat episodes again.
“Any idea what the thinking is behind this? If the episodes have been filmed, why hold them back?”
Scott responded quite frankly, saying: “Repeats are becoming the norm.
“If they weren't showing repeats of The Chase they would probably show repeats of something else, ITV are not making a lot of anything right now.”
The decision on reruns comes amid serious budget cuts at ITV that has seen Lorraine, Good Morning Britain, and several other shows forced to move location
Topics: ITV, The Chase, TV and Film, TV
Michael Slavin