The Chase star Bradley Walsh has a secret side to him that he appears to hide from fans of the ITV series, a close pal previously revealed.
The popular and cheeky TV host is apparently “super intelligent” when he is off camera.
Bradley’s intellect is so impressive that his friend Mark Harrison was surprised when he first met him.
The Chase star Bradley Walsh has a ‘secret’ side
Speaking to Great British Life earlier this year, Mark said when he first met Bradley, he was “not the guy” he recognised from the small screen.
He is not just the guy you see on the telly. He is super-intelligent and his foresight was amazing.
“I was really surprised how clever he was,” Mark told the publication.
“He is not just the guy you see on the telly. He is super-intelligent and his foresight was amazing.”
Bradley ‘cheats’ his way to The Chase
These days, Bradley can be found fronting both ITV1’s The Chase and the BBC’s revamped Blankety Blank.
There is no denying he is a very talented brain box with a very varied career.
But is he clever enough to beat ultimate Einsteins, The Chasers?
Speaking earlier this year, Bradley confessed that he “cheated” when asked that very same question.
He told Captial FM: “I’ve got to fess up as well. When we first did the job, the only two choices that were first there were actually The Beast and The Dark Destroyer, right?
“We were doing an office run through, and this is to get the job up and running. And I said: ‘This is ludicrous these questions are so easy.’
“And they said: ‘Do you think you could beat the Chaser?’ I said: ‘If I beat the Chaser, we’ll make a series.'”
Bradley DID beat Chasers Mark Labbett and Shaun Wallace. But only by cheating.
“What they didn’t realise was the sheets with the questions and the answers on were lying face down on my end of the desk,” he admitted.
“I could see the print through and I could read the answers backwards and I read them. So every time they come in on the head to head as if they were at the table, I’d smash both of them.”
When did Bradders find fame?
Although Bradley is one of the most recognised faces on TV, he did not set out on the road to fame when he first left school.
Having grown up in Watford, Brad got an apprenticeship at Rolls-Royce’s nearby aircraft engine factory.
A love for engineering blossomed as he learned to build jet engines for the British forces.
Bradley, now 62, also began doing up cars in his spare time, starting out with a Mini 1000.
Away from the garage, he was also a budding footballer and was signed to Brentford aged 18.
But sadly, an ankle injury put paid to that career path and he quit football and engineering and began working at Pontins holiday camp as a Bluecoat.
Bradley – who was incidentally tipped as the ‘most likely to become at TV presenter’ at school – found he enjoyed being in the spotlight.
He began touring as a newcomer comedian before catching the eye of ITV talent scouts.
There, his TV career was born.
Bradley, who is set to host a celebrity episode of The Chase on Christmas Day, became the new presenter of game show Wheel Of Fortune in 1997 before moving into acting.
He played factory boss Danny Baldwin in Coronation Street for two years. He then landed leading roles in Law & Order and The Larkins.
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