User:The JPS/Mark Labbett

Mark Labbett is a television personality best known for his role as a 'Chaser' on the ITV1 teatime quiz The Chase. He has appeared in several television quiz shows, and is a regular in quizzing competitions.

He obtained an MA in Mathematics from Oxford University, a PGCE in secondary education from University of Exeter, and a CPE & LPC (Qualifications in Law) from University of Glamorgan. He taught in secondary schools, and worked as a supply teacher in Maths and P.E.

Labbett became interested in quizzing when working at Butlins, supplementing his income with winnings from the quiz machines. His pub quiz team won a weekend in Paris in April 2001 after competing the national competition Jumbo Quiz.

He appeared on Mastermind in 1999, where his specialist subject was the Olympic Games. He appeared again on Mastermind in 2000, with the animated television show The Simpsons as his specialist subject.

In 2004 he won £500 on Five's BrainTeaser, and a year later he won £1,500 on BBC One's SUDO-Q. In 2005, he won £16,000 on Millionaire Live, a live version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? that toured seaside resorts throughout the summer. A captain, he led the Welsh quiz team to fifth place in the 2006 European Quizzing Championships. In 2007, he was ranked as the 17th top quizzer in the country.

His team, The Rugby Boys, won BBC Four's Only Connect in 2009. Other television appearances include The National Lottery People's Quiz (2007), Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, and University Challenge.

Labbett portrays one of the 'Chasers' in the ITV1 teatime quiz The Chase, first broadcast in 2009. In the show, his nickname is "The Beast". Writing for The Guardian, Stuart Heritage credited Labbett for the show's success, writing:

"he carries himself with all the pomp and majesty of a medieval king who's fully aware that he knows quite a lot more about several things than most people. He's a readymade cult hero like David Dickinson before him, he'll no doubt get his own show within the next couple of years, and he single-handedly elevates the whole thing to a level it wouldn't otherwise deserve. It may not be the perfect daytime gameshow but, thanks mainly to Labbett, The Chase can be horribly watchable entertainment."

He has hosted and participated in several charity quiz nights, such as one in Cardiff in May 2012 for Cancer Research Wales and Velindre Cancer Centre.