The Chase star Mark Labbett says he has found Bradley Walsh's replacement after the host joked that he had "had enough" of the show.
The comedic moment came during Monday night's episode when, after a wrong answer was given by a contestant, Walsh said he had "had enough" of the hit game show.
The Chaser, known as The Beast, immediately urged the host to retract his statement and identified who his replacement would be. Labbett told Walsh: "Don't say that. Phillip Schofield will be here in a heartbeat."
Walsh quipped back: "He's never been in Heartbeat. That was Nick Berry."
This isn't the first time Walsh has hinted that he could be leaving the show.
Last week speaking with contestant Yvonne, who had recently retired, the host was keen to know what the player got up to in her spare time.
He asked: "What do you get up to now that you're retired?'
Responding, Yvonne said: "Walking..." before Brad chimed in to ask: "Have you ever tried giving anyone a citizen's arrest?"
Looking particularly baffled, the player replied: "Oh no, not yet but that could be quite exciting."
As the excited presenter beamed: "Well you need to try it."
As soon as The Beast stepped foot into the brightly lit studio, fans at home instantly knew today's contestants were in store for a hard time and took to social media to chime their thoughts.
One person wrote: "Might as well call it a day now, its The Beast #TheChase."
"Say goodbye to the money, they've got The Beast #Thechase."
While others cheered "Yes it's Mark," on Twitter.
The Chase has been running since 2009, with both Labbett and Walsh being involved from the beginning.
Walsh has been involved in many hilarious gaffes and mishaps during his tenure as host.
In April, he was forced to apologise after breaking part of the show's set after becoming overexcited during a high-stakes moment.
The gaffe had all the contestants in hysterics as he quickly apologised.
"I've cracked it, I'm so sorry. Have we got a spare?" after smashing his hand down onto a table.
"If you win the £35k, can you lend me a couple of quid?" Bradley joked to the contestant as he admitted his error.
Walsh has previously said he may be retiring from TV soon to focus on other things.
"You know what, in a couple of years time I won’t have to do any of it, I’ll be retired and that’ll be it," he said last year.
"I don’t actually have time off. I have meetings, I have personal appearances I have to make and stuff like that with other things I’ve got going on, so it’s quite tricky to juggle it about."
He added: "The Chase allows me to do the other stuff which I really want to do – not that I don’t love doing The Chase."
