The Chase contestant makes headlines after accepting £17,000 negative offer

Chetan stunned The Chase viewers when he accepted a minus £17,000 offer from Jenny Ryan, putting a substantial amount of the team’s potential prize money at risk.

The 25-year-old salesman from Langley faced the decision on the ITV quiz show on Wednesday, 20 November 2024. After earning £2,000 in his Cash Builder, he could stick with that amount, gamble on the higher offer of £73,000, or accept the extraordinary lower offer of -£17,000.

Chetan chose the negative offer.

The decision immediately divided viewers. Some questioned why he would voluntarily take such a significant amount away from the team, particularly after his teammates had already built a sizeable prize fund.

Chetan, however, had a clear reason for the gamble: he wanted all four contestants to reach the Final Chase.

How the team built its prize fund

Host Bradley Walsh welcomed Chetan, Nicky, Kim and Jason to the episode as they prepared to face Jenny Ryan, known as The Vixen.

Jason went first and earned £6,000 in his Cash Builder. Rather than risk a higher offer, he chose the lower option of £2,000 and successfully returned to the team.

Kim then produced the biggest contribution of the opening rounds.

She banked £8,000 in her Cash Builder before choosing the much higher offer of £70,000. The gamble paid off and Kim made it back safely, taking the team’s total to £72,000.

That left Nicky and Chetan to complete the line-up.

Nicky also accepts a negative offer

Nicky had earned £7,000 in her Cash Builder, but chose the lower offer of -£5,000.

Although the decision reduced the team’s potential winnings, Nicky successfully made it through to the Final Chase.

Then Chetan faced the board.

With three teammates already safely through, he was presented with the choice of adding £73,000 or taking £17,000 away from the prize fund.

He acknowledged that his decision might not prove popular before explaining his reasoning to Bradley Walsh.

“It’s probably not going to be the most popular choice, but I do think there is strength in numbers…so I’m going to go for -£17,000.”

Chetan stuck with his decision.

Viewers react to the £17,000 gamble

The extraordinary offer quickly became the main talking point among viewers.

Some struggled to understand why Chetan would accept such a large negative amount after the team had already secured £72,000. Online reactions ranged from jokes about being too embarrassed to show their faces again to comments describing the decision as a “criminal offence”.

But the strategy was not simply about protecting the prize fund.

By taking the negative offer, Chetan gave the team a chance to enter the Final Chase with all four contestants.

And Jenny Ryan herself appeared to understand the logic behind the move.

Jenny Ryan backs the decision

Rather than criticising Chetan, The Vixen told him she believed the choice made sense.

Ryan pointed out that, even after the £17,000 deduction, the team would still have £50,000 in the bank if Chetan successfully returned.

She also argued that having a full team of four could be worth the sacrifice, describing the prospect of facing a “fearsome full house” in the Final Chase.

The decision was therefore put to the ultimate test when all four contestants made it back to the team.

The gamble pays off

Chetan’s controversial decision ultimately worked.

Jason, Kim, Nicky and Chetan entered the Final Chase together with £50,000 at stake. They built a target of 21, while Jenny Ryan managed to reach 18.

The team held on to win.

As a result, Chetan, Nicky, Kim and Jason each took home £12,500.

The result gave Chetan’s controversial strategy a very different ending. Rather than leaving the team with fewer players in the final round, his decision helped ensure that all four contestants were available to answer questions against The Vixen.

Was it really the lowest offer in the show’s history?

The £17,000 negative offer was widely described at the time as a record-breaking moment for The Chase. Contemporary reports called it the lowest offer ever seen on the show.

However, the supplied source also notes that historical records show a £17,000 negative offer had previously been accepted in an episode involving Jenny Ryan on 9 December 2021. That means Chetan’s decision should not be described as the first time a contestant had accepted a -£17,000 offer.

What made the November 20 episode memorable was the combination of the extraordinary offer, the backlash from viewers and, ultimately, the result.

The team went from £72,000 after Jason and Kim, to £50,000 after Nicky’s £5,000 reduction and Chetan’s £17,000 gamble.

They then beat The Vixen 21–18, with each contestant leaving with £12,500.

Chetan had bet on the idea that having four players in the Final Chase would be more valuable than protecting the larger prize fund — and, on this occasion, the numbers backed up his gamble.