Everyone’s mum loves The Chase – but this quiz has unexpected fans too
“Quiz, as a genre, is having a moment,” says Matt Parkinson (aka Goliath), one of the original Chasers.
For the past 10 years, comedian Matt Parkinson (aka “Goliath”) has relished pitting his extraordinary memory recall against that of players sweating for a cash prize under studio lights. As one of the original “Chasers” on The Chase Australia, he’s long enjoyed the quiet celebration of brains and facts that is the weeknight quiz show, but he says a lot more people are catching on too.
The Chase’s Chasers (clockwise from left): Cheryl Toh, David Poltorak, Matt Parkinson, Brydon Coverdale, Issa Schultz and Mara Lejins.
“Quiz, as a genre, is having a moment because we’re in a post-truth world,” says Parkinson. “The notion that some ideas are fixed – that Paris is still the capital of France, that there are still three feet in a yard – and that there are people who know what those facts are, I think is quite comforting.
“We’re also in a nerd generation,” he says. “People like the idea that they can hold facts in their head, and get to know a subject really well. There’s a prestige attached to knowing something that other people don’t.”
Lawyer Mara Lejins, a Chaser since 2022 dubbed “The Smiling Assassin”, knows first-hand that quiz shows can also be life changing. A former contestant, she put her $60,000 winnings towards achieving a master’s degree in international criminal law at Columbia University.
“[The Chase] is very winnable,” she says. “And the money is nothing to sniff at. We [Chasers] don’t like losing, but it’s a lot easier to lose when you know that the money is making a big difference. I’ve had messages from happy contestants saying they’ve taken their mum on her first overseas holiday. Or they’ve finally been able to afford a car or have a family trip.”
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Lejins is the social glue of the Chasers, who also include “Supernerd” Issa Schultz, “Tiger Mum” Cheryl Toh, David “The Professor” Poltorak and Brydon Coverdale, aka “The Shark”. Some of them like to get together for dinner parties and have been known to turn up at the odd pub quiz night. On one such memorable occasion at the Miranda RSL in southern Sydney, Parkinson was the victor in a riotous round of “heads or tails”.
“The winning question was, ‘Is this, or is this not, a position from the Kama Sutra: jockey on a horse?’ I thought, yes, that’s definitely going to be in there, and turns out I was right. It won me a $5 drink voucher.”
