Sports broadcaster wins £40k on ITV quiz show and gives it Banbury charity

A sports presenter has helped a local Banbury charity take home £40,000 after a successful run on the celebrity special of an ITV quiz show.

Sports broadcaster Mark Pougatch was one of three winning celebrities, and he chose the Banbury Young Homelessness Project (BYHP) as his charity.

The BYHP will receive £40,000 as their share of the cash prize on the celebrity version of ITV’s quiz show The Chase, which aired at 8pm on Saturday October 17.

Mark was joined by comedian Dane Baptiste and TV presenter Anita Rani as the winning celebrities. The three celebrities split a £120,000 prize, and Mr Pougatch named the BYHP as the recipient of his share of the prize fund.

Mr Pougatch, who is also a BYHP Ambassador, said: "It was a fantastic, if nerve wracking experience, but great to win 40k for BYHP. I chose them as I’m an ambassador and I know how committed they are and what outstanding work they do."

The £120,000 total prize won was nearly a record amount won on the celebrity version of The Chase. That amount has been won twice previously. Countdown star Rachel Riley and presenter Kirsty Gallacher have won the largest amount at £160,000. The second highest was a £152 prize.

Patrick Vercoe, the chief executive of BYHP, said: "It's unexpected, but a very welcome windfall. It's a significant amount of money. It represents about 15 per cent of our budget."

Mr Vercoe said the money will be extra helpful to the charity as the several fundraising events, including a murder mystery event were cancelled due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.

Whilst BYHP is known locally as an organisation helping homeless young people, they have in fact grown as a charity and now support all young people aged between 13 and 25 with a range of services.

They offer services in three core areas from Health and Wellbeing team services such as free counselling and family mediation to training and employability services to housing and homelessness advice.