Bradley Walsh abruptly halts The Chase as contestant makes ITV history

host was forced to halt the quiz show in one history-making episode, as contestant Pearl made a huge on-screen error. Pearl was squaring up against in one episode, and was ready to compete for £4,000 in her head-to-head round. But things quickly dissolved into chaos.

On the show, Pearl was asked: "Which card game shares its name with a famous French manufacturer of fine crystal glassware?" with the possible answers Baccarat, Canasta and Piquet. But as soon as Bradley read the possible answers aloud, Pearl jumped in to reply: "Piquet!" before realising she'd potentially given the answer away to her opponent.

Bradley was left in hysterics as Pearl corrected herself: "Oh, I don't have to say it, do I? I've mucked that up, haven't I?" Rather than the tense music starting to signal time ticking down, nothing happened, drawing the show to an abrupt halt as Bradley giggled: "Pearl, you press away! Put him under pressure! That's all right, don't worry about it!"

He added: "I'll give you a little tip, Pearl. Keep it to yourself! Okay? There's no point in me saying this, but you've put... piquet! If this is right we're up and running."

In a huge twist, though, the correct answer was actually baccarat. Mark, however, had been tricked by Pearl's answer, and also went wrong with piquet. Bradley quipped: "Hopefully he doesn't know and he's taken your lead, that would be great if he has!"

Everyone on set was hysterical as Mark admitted: "That's exactly what I did! I didn't have a clue. Do I look like a person who would have fine crystal glassware in my house?"

Pearl replied: "I did have a clue, because before the answers came up piquet was the one that was in my mind, which is why I went for it."

Bradley pointed out she'd made history with the move, admitting: "I can't believe it. I've never ever had a contestant sell a chaser a dummy. I've never... Oh goodness me!"