Dorset's famous TV quizzers (including Harry Redknapp)

The showed aired on Friday, May 7, and Nigel Painter took on all five Chasers in the spin-off of The Chase.

And it meant he joined a list of Dorset residents to appear on popular game shows.

Who has had the best success on national television?

• Poole man wins big on ITV's Beat the Chasers

Nigel Painter – Beat the Chasers

Nigel took on Anne Hegerty, Mark Labett, Shaun Wallace, Jenny Ryan and Darragh Ennis in a crunch head-to-head at the end of the show on May 7.

A massive £100,000 was up for grabs, and Nigel had 60 seconds on his clock while the five chasers had 52 seconds. Each time the contestant gets an answer right their clock stops and the chasers have to answer and vice versa. The team that runs out of time first loses.

With five seconds left on his clock, the Chaser’s ran out of time, leaving Nigel £100,000 richer and arms in the air in celebration – as if he’d just scored the winner at Wembley.

After winning big, Nigel said: “I knew I wanted to play five Chasers if the time offer was right. I like Mark and I like Anne. Darragh was an unknown entity. But the thing is, they all have their strengths, but their weaknesses aren’t weaknesses.

“I just tried to work out how many questions I could afford to get wrong in the time advantage, and thought I had a good shot at that time.

“I looked at a spot about six feet in front of me all the way through. It was such a shock when the ticker tape fell. I’m a bit disappointed as in the excitement I forgot to pick some up as a souvenir.”

• Dorset woman is oldest ever Weakest Link winner

Tricia Mallon – The Weakest Link

In 2010, a Bournemouth woman became the oldest Weakest Link winner at the ripe age of 78.

Tricia Mallon won the BBC 1 quiz show, taking away the title of strongest link and a cheque for £1,150.

She said: “I didn’t win very much because I wasn’t very good at banking.”

Talking about the show’s notoriously tough host, Anne Robinson, Tricia said: “I really liked her. I take all the banter with a pinch of salt. I know some people don’t find her very funny, but I do.

“Afterwards she came up to me and shook my hand, telling me I was the oldest ever winner.”

• Poole man to appear on BBC One's Pointless

Leighton Haberfield – Pointless & The Weakest Link

In 2002, Leighton Haberfield, from Poole, won the Weakest Link and was dubbed “the fool from Poole”.

And then, in October 2019, Leigh travelled to Elstree to film an episode of Pointless which aired in late 2020.

He appeared with close friend Steve Aintree and said the day was “excellent”.

He said: “You don’t get to meet Alexander Armstrong or Richard Osman beforehand, and you are not allowed to watch the other shows because they want to see your surprise when they announce the prize money.

“You can imagine our shock when they said it was £15,000.

“Alexander (Armstrong) thought it was brilliant because they’d never had a contestant called Leighton on the show before.

“Richard (Osman) was very funny. I think they will cut a lot of what we said because some of the stuff was risqué.

“The first round was tricky because Steve answered first which meant I answered last. As the round went on people kept stealing my answers.

“You don’t want to be the first pair out, so I was pretty nervous. We literally scraped into round two.

“We had a good combination of Steve’s knowledge of words and sport and my knowledge of music and history.”

• The Bournemouth school children starring in their generation's answer to University Challenge

Year 6 team, St James’ Church of England Academy – Top Class

Ramis, Gabriel, Louis, George and Emily, a team of brainy year 6 pupils from St James’s Church of England Academy in Bournemouth, appeared on CBBC’s Top Class in 2016.

All contestants were aged between 10 and 11 and represent primary schools on the show based on University Challenge.

Hosted by Scottish comedian Susan Calman, Top Class not only tested the pupils but also their teachers, and St James' Beth Dodd was challenged by the quiz’s ‘Test the Teacher’ round.

Before the team appeared on the show, school principal Jeremy Payne said: “It's fantastic that the skills of our Year 6 children have been recognised in this way.

"This is going to be a great learning experience for them all and we couldn't be more proud of them as representatives of our community.”

• Harry Redknapp's Supermarket Sweep gift for Lewis-Manning

Harry Redknapp – Supermarket Sweep

Arguably Dorset’s most famous resident, Harry Redknapp appeared on ITV’s Supermarket Sweep with friend and footballing colleague Paul Merson.

Harry won £500 which donated to Lewis-Manning Hospice Care.

Commenting on his involvement in the programme, Harry said: “My team-mate Paul Merson and I didn’t do as well as we might have hoped but we’re thrilled to have won £1,000, to be shared between Lewis-Manning Hospice Care and Paul’s nominated charity, the NSPCC.

“We also had so much fun taking part in the show, which is hosted by Rylan Clark-Neal.”

Which show do you remember watching and who do you think had the biggest success?