Yesterday, the Chaser, 53, hit back after a fan said his shortened response to a question about Johannesburg shouldn’t have earned him the point. “As much as I love The Beast @MarkLabbett… he shouldn’t have been allowed Jobergh!”(sic) a fan of The Chase tweeted. “Gotta accept first answer.” Mark Labbett was quick to write back, sounding incredulous at the viewer’s pedantic standards.
“You would disallow Joburg?” he said, writing in view of his 110,000 followers. “Wow.”
“I would @MarkLabbett…” the fan said. “They think @anne_hegerty is strict as The Governess… they haven’t met me yet!”
Mark’s co-star Anne Hegerty, 60, also chipped in to defend the decision, saying: “It’s like disallowing LA because you waned Los Angeles.”
At that point, a second fan joined the debate, recalling: “In one episode recently The Dark Destroyer had a question about a carpet cleaned to which he answered ‘hoover’ when the answer should’ve been ‘vacuum cleaner’.
“It was accepted, but I did wonder about that,” they mused. “He gave a brand name. Like saying Ford instead of car.”
“It’s more like saying ‘biro’ instead of ballpoint,” The Chase favourite Anne insisted. “Would you allow that?”
“Yes I got it, and understood why it was allowed,” the second Twitter user replied. “Just made me wonder where the line is drawn.
“Some brand names have been absorbed into the language I guess.”
Meanwhile, a third social media user also tweeted to say they were unimpressed boy the decision to allow Mark’s answer of Joburg.
“Funny we were talking about that as well,” they said.
“If that had been the contestant it wouldn’t have been allowed.”
Elsewhere on The Chase, a contestant hit back at Mark Labbett after a cheeky swipe the show earlier this week.
Quiz hopeful Carl took his place in front of the board in a bid to bring back some cash for the prize fund, having told host Bradley Walsh, 58, his job was working with fisherman to asses the quality of their fish.
When Mark arrived on the podium, however, he used this information as ammunition, cackling: “Carl, just like your fish you’re about to get battered.”
Unimpressed with the swipe, Carl lightheartedly jibed: “Poor. Poor joke, poor joke.”
The Chase airs weekdays at 5pm on ITV.