Even on December 25 there’s no break for The Chase’s Jenny Ryan, who loves hosting a festive quiz for her family
Most of us might consider turkey and mince pies the most vital parts of Christmas Day, but star of TV’s The Chase Jenny Ryan reveals there’s another festive tradition in her family . . . a quiz.
“It’s an essential part of Christmas in my family,” she explains. “We are incredibly competitive, and everyone is involved from my 85-year-old nana down to my youngest cousins, who are 13.
“One cousin is 17 and he’s been runner-up for the last four years, so I’m hoping there might be another generation of Chasers in the making.”
Not that Jenny’s family let her take part, for fear of her winning hands down, so during the festive season she’s very much confined to asking the questions.
“It was the role my grandad used to play when I was young,” Jenny says. “He was known as Quiz King Kevin – he ran a lot of local quiz nights and was even in the local paper, so I’ve taken that mantle on.”
Jenny says that there are some advantages to being in charge of the questions.
“Everyone has to have their role, so if you’re sorting out the categories for the celebrity charades, you can’t be washing up, can you?” She grins.
Jenny is such a big fan of quizzing that she’s teamed up with comedian and fellow quiz fanatic Lucy Porter to write Fingers On Buzzers,a celebratory journey through the history of the Great British quiz.
For Lucy, quizzes are also a big part of Christmas. “My dad Maurice used to start preparing the Christmas quiz in July and took it incredibly seriously!” She laughs.
“Now I go to my in-laws in Cornwall for Christmas and the cousins, who are technologically amazing, set up all these incredible audio visual elements to the quiz.”
Lucy’s family start Christmas Day with a dip in the sea followed by a warming sherry and the games start soon after.
In the Ryan household, lunch definitely comes first. “We have to wait until everyone is fed, otherwise it’s a very dangerous business,” Jenny smiles. “The quiz lasts at least a couple of hours, so dinner makes everyone a bit more ready to just sit still.”
Jenny, who is known as The Vixen, has been one of the resident elite quizzers on the award-winning teatime quiz show The Chase for the past eight years, so it’s per
