The Chase star Paul Sinha has revealed in his new book that the particular episode left him knocking back “an imprudent quantity of beer and wine”.

Paul Sinha said he was ‘broken’ after his “heaviest ever defeat’ on The Chase’s celebrity special ITV

Paul Sinha has candidly admitted that his “heaviest ever defeat” on a celebrity version of The Chase had left him “broken”. Known as The Sinnerman on the ITV show, Paul, 54, has been praised as the best quizzer out of his six co-stars on several occasions, so it’s no surprise when a big loss is taken to heart so extensively.

Reflecting on a particular episode back in 2016, Paul explained that when a fellow comedian comes onto his “patch”, he is determined to win more than ever, so the stand-up-comic-turned-quizzer was really keen to beat Rob Beckett, whom he jokingly admitted to being “jealous” of.

The 38-year-old was a part of the successful team alongside Gaby Roslin, Sir Geoff Hurst and Hayley Tamaddon and together, they gained 21 questions in the final chase. With just two minutes to answer all of the questions, time was tight for Paul to think about the answers and after failing to identify rapper Flavor Flav and the cosmetics company that sponsored Made In Chelsea, the quizmaster essentially lost the game.

While he acknowledges that the “extremely one-sided contest” was good television and equally as good for the celebrities’ respective charities they were playing for, it wasn’t so good for his reputation.

The Chase’s Paul Sinha pictured with his husband Oliver Levy

In his book, One Sinha Lifetime: Comedy, disaster and one man’s quest for happiness, he shares: “Sat in that seat, being mocked by the team, Bradley [Walsh], the audience and even the warm-up guy ‘despondent’ didn’t cover it. I felt broken.

“Under the circumstances, I was pretty proud of what I said to Sir Geoff Hurst. ‘I imagine this must be the greatest day of your life’. Afterwards, I really needed a drink and there was plenty on offer in the green room.” He added: “As I offered insincere congratulations to the victors, I knocked back an imprudent quantity of beer and wine. Misjudging your pace matters less when you’re happy. This was not the day to misjudge my pace.” Having also just been dumped at the time, Paul insisted that he wasn’t in the best mindset during that particular episode, and needed some fun. After going through his fair share of heartbreak, the comedian has been happily married to husband Oliver Levy for the past five years.

Paul proposed to his husband with a £20 ring from Topshop during a romantic trip to Rome. Explaining his reasons for the budget-friendly ring, he previously said on Loose Men: “The one thing I knew he wouldn’t value was an expensive ring; that’s not what drives the relationship. It’s companionship and love and having fun, it’s not the value of jewellery. “So I didn’t want to spend any money on the ring. It’s more money I can spend on the wedding.” In the same year of his special day, Paul was also diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and he has since praised his husband for helping him through his health woes, including assisting him in getting dressed. On Loose Women in 2022, he said of his symptoms: “The most difficult thing for me today was actually putting this shirt on. I had to wake up, find the shirt and then wake Oliver up and say, ‘Put the shirt on for me’. “Everything you usually take for granted just takes longer. You can see that I am sitting here with my right hand not moving much, that’s its default state. Everything you take for granted just takes longer to do.”