The Chase Australia Chasers: All 10, Their Nicknames and Who's Chased in 2026

The gist: The Chase Australia has used ten Chasers since 2015, and seven are still listed as current. The four originals — Brydon Coverdale, Anne Hegerty, Matt Parkinson and Issa Schultz — are all still on the books, alongside Cheryl Toh, Mara Lejins and David Poltorak. Mark Labbett's last listed stint runs to 2025.

Who are the Chasers on The Chase Australia?

Here's the whole bench, with the nickname each one plays under and when they've been in the chair. Guests are marked.

Hegerty, Labbett and Wallace came over from the British version. Blackwell is a Chaser on the American one. Everyone else is local, and several made their names as contestants on Australian quiz shows first.

Which Chasers have been on The Chase in 2026?

Five, going by the fan-kept episode log on The Chase Wiki for the Series 17 episodes that have gone to air since 10 August. We counted the eleven new hours it lists up to 23 September:

So teams are slightly ahead this series, six wins to five. Goliath is the outlier: he's had more episodes than anyone and has caught three of his four teams.

The catches have mostly been tight. Three of the five came with 11 seconds or less on the clock, and one with just four. Schultz, Toh and Labbett haven't appeared in the new episodes logged so far, which says nothing either way about whether they're coming back; Seven hasn't said.

These are counts from a volunteer log, not Seven figures. Wednesday to Friday hours from Series 16 aren't in them.

Who is the newest Chaser on The Chase Australia?

David Poltorak, The Professor. He was a record-setting Sale of the Century contestant and later wrote questions for Sale, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? and Millionaire Hot Seat, which now runs on 10 at 7pm. He guested in 2024 and stayed on as a regular.

Before him came Mara Lejins in 2022. TV Blackbox reported at the time that she was 27, the youngest Chaser the local show had used. She'd played The Chase as a contestant in 2017, banking $20,000, and won $58,000 on the Beat the Chasers spin-off in 2020.

Which Chaser is the hardest to beat?

Nobody publishes an official catch rate, and 11 episodes is far too few to crown anyone. What the log does show is who gets the heavy nights: Goliath has fronted more new hours this series than any other Chaser.

On paper, Issa Schultz has the biggest outside CV. He's won the Australian Quizzing Championships 12 times, most recently in 2025, and took $200,000 on The Rich List in 2009. Matt Parkinson was a Sale of the Century champion in the 1990s.

How much can you win on The Chase Australia?

The record is $141,000, split four ways at $35,250 each. The lowest win ever is $400, and that record was matched this series: in the 21 September hour, a lone player got home against The Governess after the team gave up $600 of its $1,000 bank for six extra steps.

That's the Final Chase Firepower offer at work. In Series 17 the Chaser can offer extra steps in exchange for part of the prize fund, and the Mega Money Spinner has been dropped. The biggest bank in the logged new hours so far is $34,000, shared by two players on 8 September.

How does a Chaser actually play?

One Chaser faces a team of four. Each player builds money in a one-minute Cash Builder at $2,000 an answer, then races the Chaser down a seven-step board; anyone caught loses their money.

Whoever gets home plays the Final Chase together, with two minutes to set a target and a head start of one step per player. The Chaser then has two minutes to catch them. If every player is caught earlier, the team picks one to play a "Lazarus" Final Chase for an amount the Chaser offers, which is what happened on 23 September. We describe the rules only; we don't reproduce questions or answers from the show.

When is The Chase Australia on?

Weekdays at 5.00pm on Seven, with 7plus streaming live and on demand. Larry Emdur has hosted since July 2021, when he took over from Andrew O'Keefe.

New hours usually run early in the week and older episodes fill the rest. Our Chase viewing guide tracks which nights are new, Tipping Point on Nine is the rival in the same hour, and last week's quiz results page has the ratings fight between them. Every daily file lives in our Chase archive.

FAQ

Does Seven announce the Chaser before each episode?
No. The yourTV and IceTV listings give the series and episode number but not the Chaser, so the walk-out is the reveal.

Is Mark Labbett still on The Chase Australia?
His listed stint runs to 2025, and he hasn't appeared in the Series 17 hours logged so far. Seven hasn't announced a return or an exit.

Is there another quiz show with the same energy later in the evening?
Try Have You Been Paying Attention? on 10 on Monday nights. For reality TV after the quiz hour, our sister site AU Reality On Air covers The Block and The Voice.

Sources

• Wikipedia: The Chase Australia — Chaser list, nicknames and years, host history, format, $141,000 record and $400 low, Schultz and Parkinson backgrounds.
• TV Blackbox (3 August 2022) — Mara Lejins joins; nicknames of the other Chasers (Goliath, The Governess, The Beast, The Shark, The Supernerd, The Tiger Mum).
• The Chase Wiki: Series 17 — fan-kept episode log (Chaser, bank and Final Chase result for episodes 1–11); our tally is counted from it.
• yourTV and IceTV Sydney guides — episode numbers for 28 September–2 October.

By the AU Quiz On Air desk · Updated 27 September, 8.44am AEST