‘Who won?’ The Chase viewers furious as Channel Seven cuts quiz show short

Viewers of hugely popular quiz show The Chase Australia were left furious on Thursday as Channel Seven cut short the broadcast of the show in order to air a news update about the bushfires raging across New South Wales.

Taking to social media, many viewers expressed their anger at Seven for ending the show before the final round had been completed, meaning fans of the show were left with no idea as to the outcome of the show.

The last thing viewers saw before their screens briefly went blank was host Andrew O’Keefe asking a male contestant – who was facing off against ‘The Supernerd’ Issa Schultz to take home the prize money – a question about the Tasman Bridge disaster which took place in Hobart in 1975.

O’Keefe could be heard saying: “The ship Lake Illawarra collided with a bridge in which city?”

The contestant then wrongly answered Sydney before O’Keefe revealed the correct answer was Hobart, however the broadcast of the show then came to an abrupt end with colour bars then being shown on viewers’ screens for several moments before the news bulletin began.

@tvtonightau @Channel7 Melbourne cut the chase short as news started at 6pm missing the end of final chase pic.twitter.com/6GNoZRMzij

— Michael Robinson (@ozrobbo) December 5, 2019

Angry viewers then took to social media to blast Channel Seven for the abrupt end to the program, with one person writing: “just spent an hour watching the chase Australia, to have it cut off during the final chase for the 6 o’clock news!! Thanks a lot!”

Another commented: “Watching The Chase and half way through the final chase they just go to the news. Why did I bother watching for @Channel7.“

@Channel7 just spent an hour watching the chase Australia, to have it cut off during the final chase for the 6 o’clock news!! Thanks a lot!

— Bidders (@8Biddy) December 5, 2019

While another enraged viewer wrote: “@Channel7 Did we miss the end of the chase tonight? Cut off during the final chase to the news.”

And another said: “@Issa25 well I can’t celebrate the final chase in this one because ch7 just cut you off with over 1 minute to go. So am not too sure how it went. Though I seem to remember you did win as it was 15 steps and you were close to the end when it cut off. “

Oi @Channel7 who won the final chase?

— Ben Wardrop (@benoss77) December 5, 2019

According to TV Tonight, the error is likely to have been caused by “another playout error”. Reporter David Knox from the entertainment website explained: “After Seven moved its entire playout function from Melbourne to a new National Playout Centre in Sydney (the NPC).”

He aded: “Seven recently told media watchdog ACMA there have been ‘a number of teething problems that have occurred in the transition to the new operations’.”