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Statistics - How To Beat The Chaser

As mentioned on the Statistics - Final Chase page, the average target for series 1-5 was considerably higher than the average target set for series 6 onwards. So all the tables on this page are for series 6 onwards. Also, this is for daytime episodes of The Chase only.

For percentages where the chaser is in direct competition with the player/team, coloured backgrounds are used. This page shows percentages from the point of view of the chaser. Any percentages of 50% and over are coloured red - 100% is a deep red, and the nearer it gets to 50% the lighter the colour becomes. Any percentages of less than 50% are coloured blue - 0% is a deep blue, and the nearer it gets to 50% the lighter the colour becomes.

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100%

Team Size Isn't Everything

The more players you get back for the final chase, the more chance you have of winning. But even against a full house team, the chaser is still more likely to win - albeit only a slight favourite.

No. Of Players
In Final Chase
No. Of
Episodes
Lowest
Target
Average
Target
Highest
Target
Chaser
Win %
0 49 6 13.2 19 87.8%
1 251 3 12.6 20 89.6%
2 716 8 14.9 23 86.5%
3 658 7 17.2 26 68.7%
4 267 11 18.7 26 56.6%
ALL 1941 3 15.9 26 76.8%

Note:

It's All About The Target

What matters most is the target you set the chaser. The higher the target you set, the more chance you have of winning. With more players back you are more likely to set a higher target, but that isn't guaranteed. A target of 19 is approaching an even contest. Any target above this, and the team are more likely to win.

This table is too wide for your screen - scroll right to see additional columns.

  3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
No. of Episodes 1   3 6 13 14 31 48 98 106 152 171 202 223 225 220 156 120 70 39 28 10 3 2    
Chaser Wins 1   3 6 13 14 31 48 96 102 149 156 183 184 166 157 84 54 26 12 4 1 0 0    
Chaser Win % 100%   100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 100% 98% 96% 98% 91% 91% 83% 74% 71% 54% 45% 37% 31% 14% 10% 0% 0%    

Very Good Players Are Very Important

The following table shows the average target and win percentage by the strongest player in team at the end. Where the cash builder score is used to determine the strongest player.

Unsurprisingly, what helps you to set a high target, and improve your chances of winning, is to have a very good player in the final chase. Yes, it would be great if the team's strongest player went for the higher offer in the head-to-head. But should they get caught, this greatly reduces the remaining players chances of a setting a high target, and then winning.

This table is too wide for your screen - scroll right to see additional columns.

  £0 £1,000 £2,000 £3,000 £4,000 £5,000 £6,000 £7,000 £8,000 £9,000 £10,000 £11,000
No. Of Episodes 1 6 21 73 175 329 499 435 270 104 22 6
Average Target 6.0 9.2 9.7 12.3 13.9 15.1 15.9 16.6 17.6 17.9 18.5 20.3
Chaser Wins 1 6 21 66 157 269 391 311 191 66 10 1
Chaser Win % 100% 100% 100% 90% 90% 82% 78% 71% 71% 63% 45% 17%

It's Not All About The Pushbacks

It does look promising, that the more pushbacks the team take, the more chance they have of winning.

This table is too wide for your screen - scroll right to see additional columns.

No. Of Pushbacks Taken
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
No. Of Episodes
499 567 444 281 198 128 48 30 9 4 2
Chaser Wins
499 552 385 171 65 17 1 0 0 0 0
Chaser Win %
100% 97% 87% 61% 33% 13% 2% 0% 0% 0% 0%

But you can only push the chaser back if they are getting questions wrong. It is only in 32.6% of final chases, that the chaser gives 5 or more pushbacks attempts. Unless the team can get close to 100% pushback accuracy, realistically you are looking at needing 9 or more pushbacks to be able to take 5 or more. And the chaser makes 9 or more errors in less than 10% of final chases.

This table is too wide for your screen - scroll right to see additional columns.

No. Of Pushback Attempts
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14
No. Of Episodes
138 263 375 290 243 204 154 113 74 46 20 12 5 2 2
% Of Episodes
7.1% 13.5% 19.3% 14.9% 12.5% 10.5% 7.9% 5.8% 3.8% 2.4% 1.0% 0.6% 0.3% 0.1% 0.1%

23 Is The Magic Number

I think the best measure of team success in the final chase, is the target the team set the chaser PLUS the number of pushbacks they take. If the chaser is performing well, then they can get 22 questions right in 2 minutes. So to beat them, you need to score 1 more. You would be very unlucky to lose having scored 23 or more - very unfortunate to have faced the chaser on a day when they brought their A++ game to the final chase.

The lowest total of target plus pushbacks taken that any team has won with is 15. I have omitted anything lower than this from the table, just to keep it narrower.

This table is too wide for your screen - scroll right to see additional columns.

  Target + No. Of Pushbacks Taken
15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32
No. Of Episodes 146 173 175 179 163 156 133 115 86 48 56 30 18 10 6 5 2 2
Chaser Wins 145 170 170 166 144 106 72 48 20 6 3 2 0 0 0 0 0 0
Chaser Win % 99% 98% 97% 93% 88% 68% 54% 42% 23% 13% 5% 7% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

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