‘The Chase’ star Mark Labbett says fans always ask him to "pick them up".
The 54-year-old star is known as "The Beast" on the ITV quiz show – which sees him and a host of other chasers take on the public in a general knowledge quiz – and has said that because of his size, fans often ask if he can lift them into the air.
Mark said he commonly gets asked the strange request when he makes appearances at Universities during Freshers’ Week, and has to turn people down because he’s "getting old".
Speaking to Digital Spy, he said: "The weird ones are the ones that ask me to pick them up. I made a promise I would only do it with the people I love and secondly, I am getting old. But some people can’t take for an answer. It’s fun though, you get all the weird and wonderful shots. It’s lovely meeting all the students though."
The star also admitted he and the other stars of ‘The Chase’ – including Shaun Wallace, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha and Jenny Ryan – have a rivalry between them to determine who the "Alpha Chaser" is.
Mark heaped praise on Paul – who is battling early onset Parkinson’s disease – for being named the British Quizzing Champion, but said the others are still competing to steal his crown.
He added: "We always want to be the Alpha Chaser.
"Paul Sinha has just become the British Quizzing Champion which considering his early onset Parkinson’s, shows just how remarkable that is. Paul is absolutely brilliant.
"But there is always competition and we all want to be the Alpha. "
The worst thing you can say to any of us is, ‘I want to face that one because they are the easy one’. That would be poison to my soul. Fortunately everyone is scared of me."
Meanwhile, Mark previously insisted the top chaser is female.
When asked who the "lead chaser" is, he said: "I’m sorry I’m not allowed to reveal her name.
"The ladies are one and two."
Mark Labbett: Fans always ask me to pick them up
