The Chase viewers were up in arms as one player was almost left in tears.

The Chase presenter Bradley Walsh welcomed four new contestants who faced Jenny Ryan, hoping to win a huge cash prize. The ITV gameshow returned on Thursday night with Charlotte, Nilpa, Mike and Ethan putting their knowledge to the test.

Unfortunately for Mike, despite being the third contestant to face The Vixen, he was eliminated from the competition.

It was a tough blow for Charlotte and Nilpa, who had safely made it back for the final Chase.

The fourth and final contestant to face Jenny was Ethan. With his two teammates urging him to go big, the 22-year-old followed their advice and chose to play for £88,000, which he confidently brought back to the team, bringing their total up to an eye-watering £100,000.

The trio answered 17 questions correctly in the final chase, however, in a devastating turn of events, they were caught by The Vixen with just five seconds remaining leaving contestant Charlotte close to tears.

Bradley Walsh

Bradley Walsh welcomed four new contestants on The Chase (Image: ITV)

Viewers took to X, formerly known as Twitter, and shared their frustration saying it was a “horrible” final.

One wrote: “Charlotte looked like she was gonna cry, unlucky #TheChase.”

Another penned: “If you was rich, I’d ring up and give Charlotte the money, she looks gutted #thechase.”

A third remarked: “Charlotte looks like she is going to cry.”

A fourth added: “That was just horrible. Those players deserved that 100k. They were good. Gutted for them #thechase.”

The Chase contestant Charlotte

The Chase viewers admitted Charlotte looked close to tears (Image: ITV)

The Chase contestants

The Chase trio lost out on a £100,000 cash prize (Image: ITV)

Others shared their concern that the contestants had lost the huge cash prize with just five seconds to spare as viewers suggested the final chase was a “fix”.

It comes after Bradley asked The Vixen in the final round, “Which Swedish director was nominated for nine Oscars?”

Jenny replied: “Bergman,” which Bradley accepted. However, she did not give a first name.

A viewer fumed: “Seriously poor from Brad and The Chase tonight. Team robbed. There are four Bergman film directors in one family alone…surely she had to give a Christian name? #thechase.”

Another said: “They just got swindled there with that Bergman answer #TheChase.”

A second vented: “Since when do you only give half a name on the chase? ‘Bergman’ should have been the full name and the chaser gets away with it again #TheChase.”

A third hit out: “Should have been full name of director not just Bergman! #TheChase.”

A fourth declared: “If the player replied ‘Bergman’ to a question, Brad’s response would have been “need more…”. The answer was Ingmar Bergman and THAT was out of order #thechase.”

A fifth added: “Bergman? Billy Bergman? Tam Bergman? Mary Bergman? Surely the first name required as well? #thechase.”

“Defo a fix #thechase,” another claimed.

Sadly, the three remaining contestants walked away empty handed.