Entertainment
The Chase’s Paul Sinha pulls out of Beat The Chasers new series over illness
Paul Sinha has announced he pulled out of the upcoming series of Beat The Chasers due to illness.
The 50-year-old quiz whizz, who has Parkinson’s disease, wrote on Twitter on Wednesday that he was too ill to take part in filming.
He told his followers: ‘New episodes of Beat the Chasers are on their way.
‘Unfortunately, I wasn’t well for the recordings and couldn’t join in this time around.
‘I’m feeling much better now. X.’
He didn’t specify whether the illness was due to his Parkinson’s, or something else.
The stand-up comedian is a regular face on The Chase team, and spoke out about his diagnosis in June 2019.
Parkinson’s disease is a neurological condition where nerve cells are lost in the brain, causing a reduction in necessary chemical dopamine.
It causes problems like shaking and stiffness, which gets worse over time, and loss of motor skills making every day tasks more difficult.
But Paul has credited quizzing for keeping his brain active, and has joked about his diagnosis in a bid to make light of the situation.
In May 2020, he showed off his hula-hooping skills and declared: ‘F**k Parkinsons’ and wrote later that year: ‘Thanks to Parkinson’s my eating is increasingly clumsy, but I try hard not to get a chip on my shoulder.’
He also told The Telegraph: ‘The thing that has changed most since the diagnosis, is that I’ve lost my fear. I’ve always been one of those comics who doesn’t say much on panel shows because I’m terrified of saying the wrong thing or offending the wrong person.
‘But now, I’ve lost all that. I’ve got the exaggerated carpe diem that a lot of people get with their diagnosis.’
He’s since updated his Twitter profile to read: ‘My typing has been slowed down by a degenerative disease. If you have a go at typos or punctuation, I’ll count that as a block.’
Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan, Shaun Wallace, Darragh Ennis and Anne Hegerty all star alongside Paul on The Chase, who is nicknamed The Sinnerman.
Beat The Chasers, a spin-off of the popular The Chase, sees contestants face multiple Chasers at once for a cash prize.
Beat The Chasers returns later this year.
Got A Story?
If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.
