The Chase star ‘overwhelmed with pressure’ on ITV series after family loss

The Chase’s Darragh Ennis has opened up about the grief he suffered after a devastating family loss.

The 44-year-old ITV star, who joined The Chase in 2020, appeared on Wednesday’s Loose Women, where he spoke about losing his father in July to dementia, which he’d been suffering from for more than 15 years.

He bravely opened up about needing to take some time away from the Bradley Walsh-fronted gameshow after feeling like the ‘pressure overwhelmed’ him.

Speaking to the likes of Ruth Langsford and Judi Love, Darragh said he had been ‘hiding’ his grief after his father’s death despite being ‘broken inside’.

He went on: ‘When I did go back to work, and I was put in those stressful situations on The Chase, there’s a two-minute gap right at the end, the last thing we do is really high pressure, just by nature. 

‘Normally when I start making mistakes, naturally I’d be able to handle it.

‘I’d just plant my feet in my head psychologically and go “I made a mistake,keep going.”

The Chase star Darragh Ennis joined the ITV competition in 2020 alongside Shaun Wallace, Paul Sinha, Issa Schultz, Jenny Ryan and Mark Labbett (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

He bravely opened up about his grief after a family loss (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

‘This time when I went to put my feet down, there was nothing underneath them, I just fell away.  

‘I weirdly got stressed and camera shy, which I never did. The pressure just overwhelmed me completely. 

‘I had a couple of episodes like that, where every time I tried to reach for that part of myself that normally is calm under pressure, it wasn’t there anymore.’

Darragh, nicknamed The Menace on The Chase, went on to say he was offered counselling midway through filming the shows by producers, and though he thought he could ‘shrug it off’ initially, he realised he couldn’t, so he opted in.

Darragh, nicknamed The Menace on The Chase, spoke about the high pressure of the gameshow (Picture: Dave Benett/Getty Images)

‘The pressure just overwhelmed me completely,’ he said (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

‘They arranged for counselling with a sports psychologist, which might sound strange to people, it’s a high pressure situation where a lot of people are watching, and these are really good, so that’s been really helpful’ he continued.

Speaking about accepting the help he was offered, he added: ”The first time I was offered it, I shrugged it away, I really didn’t want to. I didn’t want to admit myself I was failing.

‘I really didn’t want to say “I’m not good enough here, I’m not doing what I should to the level I should be,” which is a silly thing to do,a knee-jerk reaction.

‘The second time I was grateful, it was like I was drowning and someone was holding me on.’

Darragh took a break from The Chase earlier this year after the death of his father (Picture: ITV)

Darragh is now an ambassador for charity At A Loss, aiding people with bereavement support and well-being.

The TV star, who also works as a postdoctoral researcher at Oxford, previously told Metro about keeping a level had under pressure during his time on The Chase.

He said: ‘Obviously you have to have good knowledge but, besides that, you need to be able to accept getting pushed back without losing your mental flow.

‘You need to keep a level head under pressure.’

Loose Women airs weekdays from 12.30pm on ITV1. The Chase airs weekdays at 5pm on ITV1.

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