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.
“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.”
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.”
While being gatecrashed by professionals might seem unfair to regular pub patrons, the Chasers’ wide fan base is generally thrilled to see them. Lejins has been sent a photograph of a girl dressed up as “The Smiling Assassin” at school, and of a five-year-old boy grinning over Lejins’ face printed on a birthday cake.
“I get a lot of messages from young women, which surprises me,” she says. “You just don’t think you have this impact until someone tells you, ‘I love seeing you on TV. You’re so smart. You’re so confident.’ It makes you feel great.”
When Parkinson started on the show in 2015, most people, he says, “would come up to me and say, ‘My mum loves your show.’ These days, it’s the fans themselves.
“I’m finding that people of all ages and backgrounds love the show, and even barrack for me rather than barracking for the contestants, which I really like.”
Even with his “sticky brain”, though, Parkinson can still fall victim to the perils of second-guessing. He has this advice for future contestants: “It’s not just about memory. It’s a journey into yourself. It’s about finding the confidence to know when you should trust what your brain is telling you.
“People who come on the show very relaxed, and are just there to have a crack, do much better. They are following some kind of intuition … Somehow your brain is recording everything that happens in your life, all the time. So all the information goes in. The trick is to get it out.”
The Chase Australia airs 5pm weeknights on Seven from January 19.
Find out the next TV, streaming series and movies to add to your must-sees. Get The Watchlist delivered every Thursday.
Bridget McManus is a television writer and critic for Green Guide. She was deputy editor of Green Guide from 2006 to 2010 and now also writes features and interviews for Life & Style in The Saturday Age and M magazine in The Sunday Age.
