The Chase contestant praised after last minute-knowledge helps him make history on the show

We've all watched some pretty tense episodes of The Chase, but this particular one had us on the edge of our seats.

Loveable player Dan managed to make it all the way to the Final Chase despite his teammates Annabelle, Toby and Sarah being caught by Jenny 'The Vixen' Ryan and her showing them the door.

He managed to stave her off in the Cash Builder round, which gave him the courage to bravely risk it all and take the Chaser's higher offer of £80,000 to play for in the Final Chase.

You know the bit - first the contestant answers as many questions as they can in the space of two minutes to get themselves as far ahead as possible.

The Chaser then has their turn and is obviously in pursuit of the player - but unfortunately for Jenny, she had quite a bit of catching up to do as Dan had correctly answered 16 questions right.

All she had to do was get one more than him and she would hit a home run so she could cling onto the cash.

But after The Vixen made an impressive start, she fumbled on the 17th question and was forced to pass it.

ITV

As her progress was paused, host Bradley Walsh gave Dan the opportunity to steal the game back from her.

He asked the bloke: "Israel's main airport is named after which Prime Minister?"

If you're like me and don't have a jar of glue, don't be too disheartened - as expert quizzer Jenny didn't either.

Looking as cool as a cucumber despite the high stakes, Dan responded: "David Ben-Gurion."

Building the suspense in the ITV studio, Bradley simply said, 'Unbelievable', and it looked like the contestant wasn't sure he had got it right - until the The Chase presenter then added: "Correct!"

Because he had been spot on with the answer to the tough question, Dan was able to push Jenny back one step, which left her with just four seconds on the clock to get through two questions.

ITV

To be fair, The Vixen got the first one right - but the time had run out before Bradley could even begin the second.

Thanks to Dan exploiting the Chaser's last minute lapse in knowledge, he took home a whopping £80,000.

Bradley beamed: "Time is up! £80,000! Unbelievable! The highest amount any single player has ever won. 80 grand. Dan, put it there dude, that was great."

The bloke was left speechless after his new found fortune was announced, as well as the fact that he made history on The Chase with his huge prize which he won single-handedly.

Dan revealed he planned to spend his hefty windfall on visiting his family in New Zealand, paying off his car, buying a house in Birmingham and investing into Premium Bonds.

ITV

His triumph on the show last year had clearly touched Jenny too, as she shared a clip of his win in a post on X yesterday (27 December) and praised him for being a 'very good' player.

Social media users were thankful to be reminded of the iconic episode and congratulated Dan in the comments.

One wrote: "Dan was a fantastic player. Can’t wait for new episodes from the 1st Jan!"

Another said: "What an answer to pull out of the bag at that moment!"

And a third added: "A fantastic performance."

Great work, Dan.

Topics: The Chase, ITV, TV and Film, Twitter, Bradley Walsh

Olivia Burke

Olivia is a journalist at LADbible Group with more than five years of experience and has worked for a number of top publishers, including News UK. She also enjoys writing food reviews (as well as the eating part). She is a stereotypical reality TV addict, but still finds time for a serious documentary.

@livburke_