Singer and TV star Tony Blackburn was unhappy with ITV after The Chase was axed from yesterday’s (July 7) schedule.
Instead of airing the popular game show during its normal time slot at 5 pm, ITV had already kicked off its first football game for the night. From 4.15 pm until 7.15 pm, the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025 between Spain and Belgium took place. However, another match between Portugal and Italy ran straight after until 10.20 pm.
Tony, who became the first-ever I’m A Celeb winner in 2002, took to X, formerly Twitter, to share his disappointment.
Tony Blackburn on ITV schedule shake-up: ‘It drives me mad’
“It drives me mad, I love The Chase at 5pm and then Coronation Street this evening but no it’s football all evening on @ITV why don’t they put it on another channel, there’s enough of them. We don’t all like football,” he wrote at 5.57 pm last night, which is when The Chase would have usually been finishing.
To accompany his tweet, Tony attached a GIF of the character Grumpy from Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.
In response, many of Tony’s followers agreed with him.
‘My thoughts exactly’
“I’ve always felt there should be dedicated sports channels, not everyone likes sports,” one user said in the replies.
“My thoughts exactly Tony,” another person shared.
“100% agree with you. It makes me so mad,” a third remarked.
“I don’t watch any of the soaps, but love The Chase. Everything gets rescheduled due to the football. Put it on ITV3 or 4,” another insisted.
Outside of Tony’s post, many viewers were echoing similar comments.
“Why can’t sports games be shown on one of the MANY sports channels? Why is standard TV jammed with sports? I just wanna watch #TheChase and #Corrie,” one said.
“No #TheChase due to women’s flipping football,” another raged.
Thankfully, for Tony and the many fans of The Chase, host Bradley Walsh and four players will return to their screens tonight (July 8) at 5 pm on ITV1 and ITVX.
Read more: The Chase star Paul Sinha told he’s ‘handing notice in’ following ‘unbelievable’ loss
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