Mark Andrew Labbett is a British quizzer, television personality and BBC Radio 1 DJ. He is a "chaser" on the ITV game show The Chase, starting in 2009. He subsequently appeared on the American version as their sole chaser in 2013 and as one of six chasers on the Australian version since 2016. His nickname on these shows is "The Beast". Labbett has appeared as a contestant on several other television quiz shows and is a regular in quizzing competitions. In April 2020 he appeared on The Radio 1 Breakfast Show, completing a 30-minute DJ set alongside fellow presenters Scott Mills and Chris Stark.
Labbett was a mathematics and physical education supply teacher at Caldicot School in South Wales.
Quizzing
Labbett became interested in quizzing when working at Butlins holiday camp, where he supplemented his income with winnings from the quiz machines. His pub quiz team won a weekend in Paris in April 2001 after competing in the national competition Jumbo Quiz. He works as a question writer for Redtooth, a quiz company from Barlborough near Chesterfield in Derbyshire. After two years of part-time work as a promoter for them, he moved to South Yorkshire in 2013 in order to work more often with them, but he no longer lives there. Labbett appeared on Mastermind in 1999, where his specialist subject was the Olympic Games. He appeared again on Mastermind in 2000, with the animated television showThe Simpsons as his specialist subject. Also in 2000, he competed on Countdown, narrowly losing his first game on a crucial conundrum. In 2001, he appeared on Stake Out, where he was the second contestant eliminated during the Face Off round. In 2003, he appeared on Grand Slam, where he lost against Clive Spate in his first match. In 2004, he won £500 on the Channel 5 show BrainTeaser, and a year later he won £1,500 on BBC One's SUDO-Q. He appeared on Who Wants to be a Millionaire twice, firstly on fastest finger first in Series 18 broadcast on 5th November 2005. He returned the following series and made the hot seat, winning £32,000 across two episodes in April 2006. In 2005, he also won £32,000 on Millionaire Live, a live version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? that toured seaside resorts throughout the summer. As captain, he led the Welsh quiz team to fifth place in the 2006 European Quizzing Championships. Labbett's team, the Rugby Boys, won BBC Four's Only Connect in 2009. Other television appearances include The National Lottery People's Quiz where he came second in the grand final,University Challenge and Are You an Egghead?. In 2012, Labbett was ranked 89th in the World Quizzing Championships. In 2016, Labbett took part in the three-part ITV series Sugar Free Farm, when he revealed he has false teeth, as a result of eating too much sugar. That same year, it was announced that he would become a producer for Hull-based wrestling promotion New Generation Wrestling.
''The Chase''
Labbett is one of the "chasers" in the ITV teatime quiz The Chase, first broadcast in 2009 and hosted by Bradley Walsh. In the show, his nickname is "The Beast", a two-pronged nickname referencing both his stature and his surname. In August 2013, Labbett appeared as the only chaser on the American version of The Chase on Game Show Network. He also appears as one of the seven chasers on the Australian version of The Chase on the Seven Network, alongside fellow UK chasers Anne Hegerty and Shaun Wallace. His weakest subjects are horse racing and soap operas. He noted that the American version posed far more difficulties for him, as American game shows typically allow far more competent contestants than British or Australian shows; he stated that his most challenging opponent was James Holzhauer, co-winner of the American version of The Chase and later a famous Jeopardy! contestant.
Personal life
Labbett moved to Caldicot, Monmouthshire, in 1998 and then to nearby Newport in 2003 before moving to Moorgate, Rotherham, in 2013. He resides in or near Herefordshire. He is Type-II diabetic. Labbett married his wife, Katie, who is his second cousin and 27 years his junior, in October 2014 at Arundel Cathedral. They have a son. The couple reportedly separated in 2019 but reconciled for the sake of their child. Labbett's favourite football team is Sheffield United.
