The Chase: Hastings TV quiz winner shrugs off anti-vegan ‘hate comments’

Lilly Blackford, from Hastings, won £4,000 on the popular afternoon ITV quiz show last Thursday (November 11) after her team beat The Chaser Anne Hegerty.

Lilly, 22, says she had a “lovely” time on the show, and was not bothered about the backlash she got on Twitter when she told presenter Bradley Walsh she was a vegan and writes a vegan blog.

“It doesn’t bother me at all which is quite good really because I know that some people would probably get a bit upset about going on the show and having people be horrible to them,” she says. “But I’m used to it. I’ve heard it all before anyway. People on Twitter were being horrible, saying, ‘oh, of course she had to mention that she was vegan, and I hate her even more now that’s she vegan and she took the lower offer’ and things like that.”

Lilly, who works as a legal assistant for Percy Walker Solicitors in Harold Place, Hastings, added: “My experience on The Chase was just so much fun and I had such a lovely day. I filmed the show in March, it was 100% Covid safe, and all the production staff were so welcoming and just wanted to make sure you had the best time...They actually lock your phone away as soon as you get there so you can’t take any photos, but I do have the best memories.”

She has been a big fan of the show for years, and applied to be a contestant three years ago, when she was studying law at university in Kent. Then she got a call out of the blue in January this year and the producers invited her for a Zoom audition, then booked her on the show.

“I was so excited that we won because not that many people who go on the show tend to win any money. You are going against one of the best quizzers in the country...and winning some money was just the cherry on top of the cake,” she added. “I took the lower offer as I just wanted the full experience of the show, and therefore I was adamant that I would make it to the Final Chase. It all worked out in the end because the team won, so the hate comments on Twitter don’t bother me!”

She has put her £4,000 prize money in the bank, and hopes to save enough cash to move to London to go on a post-graduate journalism course.

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