Viewers were rooting for Frankie who had rubbed shoulders with the young prince
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Beat The Chasers' penultimate episode came with drama on Thursday night (May 19) and fans say they have 'never been so gutted' over a contestant's loss.
The show, a spin-off of quiz show The Chase, has been back on screens every night this week on ITV with Bradley Walsh back as host. But there has been a bit of change this time as Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan, Paul Sinha, Shaun Wallace, and Darragh 'The Menace' Ennis were joined by a new face.
Australian chaser Issa Schultz, aka The Supernerd joined the usual line-up for the string of new shows as he stepped in at the eleventh hour for Anne Hegerty, known as The Governess, after she contracted Covid before filming started.
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So far this week fans of the show have seen contestants walk about with some mega cash jackpots and on Thursday night they were rooting for Frankie, who was the third contestant on the latest show. Things started well as the retired police officer accumulated £3,000 in his cash-builder.
After being given his options, Frankie decided to take on three Chasers - The Vixen, The Dark Destroyer and The Beast, in a bid to take home £15,000. However, the quizzer was devastated when he was beaten by The Chasers with just one second remaining.
Frankie was visibly upset by his loss as The Chasers stood to their feet to applauded their opponent. After a pause, Bradley said: "I'm gutted for you here mate. Wow, it couldn't have been much closer." And viewers felt the same.
@kloedunne tweeted: "Never have I been so devastated about a loss :( #BeatTheChasers." @LemmyFan123 shouted: "NO! SO CLOSE BY 1 SECOND! Unlucky Frankie… You were doing SO well… #BeatTheChasers."
@Maxineanne16 said: "Ah poor frankie could of cried for him heartbreaking he looked so upset #BeatTheChasers." @GaryBuglass wrote: "I felt so sorry for Frankie. Literally a split second away from winning the money. Great player #BeatTheChasers."
But prior to his upsetting loss, Frankie had an interesting tale to share involving Prince William. He claimed he'd worked at public school Eton College where he taught a young William self defence. Frankie said: "I worked at Eton College for five years with William and Harry. I had the joy, I suppose, of dropping the future king of England onto his backside.
"I taught self defence for a while at the college, and during a lesson, William made a joke about my height, or lack of it. Because he's quite a big lad. So I demonstrated a technique on him, and I had to strike him fairly firmly."
Bradley then couldn't help but joke: "And shoved him on his throne?" to which Frankie replied: "Well he fell to the floor and yeah, the crown jewels were squashed."