ITV The Chase star Darragh Ennis has asked fans to 'consider' their online comments after he lost a game on Tuesday.
Despite one contestant being caught, the rest of the team made it to the final and beat Darragh, winning thousands of pounds each. After the show, some fans criticised Darragh's performance on social media and the 44-year-old gameshow star hit back at the negativity as he insisted that 'we all have bad days'.
Responding to the mass criticism, Darragh took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to urge people to less judgemental and more kind when making comments online. Darragh said: "On tonight's show, I had a bad few minutes. It got away from me and I started to miss the clues in the question." He added: "It happens, we all have bad days. I don't mind, but maybe consider what you post online about people who are in the public eye, it can be damaging. #TheChase".
However, many fans showed their support for Darragh, with one saying: "You're my favourite Chaser Darragh. Always a gentleman and so gracious in defeat."
Responding to Darragh's post, another viewer comforted The Chase star as they wrote: "Keep the chin up mate". While another ITV viewer said: "Ignore the idiots, you're still cleverer than 99% of them". A third viewer added: "I think Darragh was under the weather could tell in his voice. Even chasers are allowed off days."
Corrie's Sue Cleaver says I'm A Celebrity stint helped her to push boundariesElsewhere, someone else echoed: "Darragh getting a lot of abuse on here but hardly any credit to the team that successfully pushed him back all 9 times".
Someone else added: "Well said. Not the same by any stretch, but I was on Mastermind a couple years ago and missed a couple early questions in my specialist subject. Then became very aware of the lights and the fact that I was in *that* chair, and all of a sudden I wouldn't have gotten my name right."
However, all the comments were not as kind as several continued to slam Darragh for his 'poor efforts'. One unimpressed viewer said: "Taking yourself a bit serious aren't you," to which Darragh replied: "Very clearly said I don't mind. Just pointing out how damaging online vitriol can be to some people and encouraging people to maybe think twice."
It comes after Darragh previously told The Mirror that he often gets marriage proposals online - but people are a lot more calm in real life when meeting him. He told us: “My wife finds it a bit weird but I think if I saw any of them in real life they’d panic. Everyone in real life is really nice because it’s not anonymous, so it’s hard to be weird in real life.
"People are really nice, really friendly. They just want a photograph and ask a few questions about the show.” Darragh, who is the newest Chaser, is a real life genius and works as a neuroscientist away from the show.