There was what could have been a very awkward moment on This Morning when Beat The Chasers star Issa Schultz admitted to not knowing who Holly Willoughby was. The quizzer was on the ITV daytime show to chat to the presenter and her co-host Phillip Schofield.
His appearance came after he made his debut on the primetime spin-off of The Chase, which is still hosted by Bradley Walsh. Issa, aka The Supernerd, has joined the line-up for the string of shows as he steps in for Anne Hegerty, known as The Governess, after she contracted Covid before filming started.
He's teamed up with Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan, Paul Sinha, Shaun Wallace, and Darragh 'The Menace' Ennis for the programme which sees contestants walk away with bigger amounts of cash then in the afternoon version, The Chase.
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But during his This Morning appearance Issa admitted he didn't recognise Holly when she came up in a question on the ITV show. The quizzer, who appears on the Australian version of The Chase was tripped up by the English question during his first day in the job. When asked about the blunder during his interview, he said: "Guilty as charged!"
He explained: "It was the first day they asked who replaced Fern Britton on This Morning. Jenny [The Vixen] was straight in with it, at the time they were just two names to me, Holly. I apologise for my oversight," before adding: "I know now." Holly and Phillip laughed in the studio, as the 41-year-old replied: "You learn every day."
Issa also told the whirlwind story about how he came to be the Chaser chosen to replace Anne, receiving the call from one of The Chase executive producers at 1am. "They said, can you get on a plane that morning - seven or eight hours later - so I spent all night packing," he explained.
"That’s how it happened. I got on the plane, got three flights to get out of Australia and it’s about 24 hours with all the stopping and changing. Then the day I landed, we went straight to the studio. There was no time to sleep. We had to get the outfits worked out and straight into game play."
He continued: "In the first episode, Mark, The Beast, very kindly said if you’re wondering why he’s a bit quiet, it’s probably because he’s feeling like a bit of a zombie right now."
