Darragh Ennis, also known as The Menace on ITV’s hit quiz show The Chase, has debunked a “weird idea” about the relationships between his co-stars. Speaking on the Dempsey’s Dozen podcast, Darragh, who joined the line-up in 2020, shed light on the dynamics among the Chasers.
They include such familiar favourites as Mark Labbett (also known as The Beast), Shaun Wallace (also known as The Dark Destroyer), Anne Hegerty (The Governess), Paul Sinha (The Sinnerman), and Jenny Ryan (The Vixen).
Yet, with quizzing a shared interest, many of us are eager to know if the Chasers are friends away from the screen. Indeed, Darragh was asked about this very topic during his recent interview.
He said: “Oh, we get on great! So, some people have this weird idea, and you’ve probably got this as well, that people who work on TV all live together or something, and like, we clearly don’t do that.
“So, we see each other in work a bit, but we were going three shows a day, so the person…you just see the handover. You see the person who was there before you and the person who was after you for a few minutes.”
Despite their likely busy schedules, it appears the Chasers do sometimes find time to socialise outside of work. For example, Darragh attended Jenny’s 40th birthday party.
He went on to reveal that they attend award shows together and spend a lot of time around each other while working on The Chase’s popular spin-off, Beat the Chasers.
Darragh revealed they even have a backstage ritual, adding: “But, very boringly, we sit in Paul’s dressing room and answer quiz questions. We do; we’re proper nerds.”
Beyond television, Darragh is also an entomologist and beekeeper and recently shared a handy tip for dealing with small black flies in your houseplants amidst the summer heat.
Speaking about the issue on TikTok, the Irish quizzer mentioned that he adores insects because of his job, but even he doesn’t want the “tiny little black flies” in his home.
He explained: “Now, I’m an entomologist so I love insects but I still don’t want those tiny little black flies all over the house and they’re really hard to get rid of, especially when they live in your house plants.
“So, they’re called fungus gnats because they live in like compost and stuff and they’re a big pest of mushroom grow houses and things but they’re a little bit of a pest in your own house.”
Darragh then recommended nematodes (a type of microscopic worm that lives in soil) as a method to tackle the issue. He pointed out that you can purchase packets of them online, noting that the worm even deals with the larvae in the soil “so they’re gone”.