20 January 2024 , 16:46
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ITV's Beat the Chasers star Darragh Ennis has defended Rachel Riley after viewers claimed her win was a "fix". The popular quiz show, which aired on Friday, saw a host of celebrity contestants vying for prize money for their chosen charities.
Rachel Riley, known for her role on Channel 4's Countdown, returned to the show and successfully answered a series of questions, winning £20,000 for The Angus Lawson Memorial Trust. However, some viewers thought her questions were too easy, with one asking "which season of the year was coldest?"
Viewers took to social media to voice their opinions, with one saying: "What a fix that was". Another commented: "How easy were some of those questions?" A third viewer asked: "They were all easy compared to the others, right?".
Darragh Ennis, one of the Chasers, came to Rachel's defence on social media, saying: "We love having clever celebs on who can really challenge us. There's always some easy [questions], it's a LOT harder than it looks standing there. Rachel did great and was her usual charming herself all while winning money for a great charity."
She won £20,000 for The Angus Lawson Memorial Trust (ITV)The show featured other celebs including Jo Brand and Kirsty Gallacher. Rachel recently opened up about her family life as she warned parents against having an 'anti maths' attitude, which she claims is causing a huge numeracy problem among children.
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The mum-of-two has a Masters in maths from Cambridge University and has been dishing out the numbers of Countdown since she was 22. But Rachel reckons by saying: "I can't do maths", we're encouraging the younger generation to feel fear surrounding the subject.
Suggesting we change the narrative, she previously said: "I think it's really important to be positive about it in the same way you wouldn't proudly say, 'I can't read,' don't say, 'I can't do maths,' it's just, 'I can't do it yet'. Even if you're going in and trying to help your kids, over the pandemic more people were having to do more maths to a higher level than they did before, as they were helping their kids for obvious reasons. You can go back and learn it together and if you're asking questions, great, it's a learning opportunity."
Rachel told the Spinning Plates podcast, the UK is struggling with maths in a big way, admitting: "We do have a problem in the UK with numeracy - 50 per cent of adults are at the level you'd expect of an 11-year-old. Again, it's lower for women. And we're passing on negative feelings and fear of it to kids and I think we need to change the way we speak about it, change the attitude and not be scared of it and not feel intimidated and just give it a go."
You can watch Beat the Chasers at 9pm on ITV1 or catch up on ITV X.
* An AI tool was used to add an extra layer to the editing process for this story. You can report any errors to [email protected]