Mark Labbett says celebrities get a helping hand on 'The Chase'.

Mark Labbett has opened up on The Chase

Mark Labbett has opened up on The Chase

The famous quizzer - who appears as The Beast on the hit ITV show - has dished on some production secrets and admitted they are a bit more relaxed when it comes to the celebrity specials.

During a speech to the Oxford Union, he said: "The celebs are not as good as they think they are.

"We give every celeb a piece of A4 and it is more or less saying, 'Tell us what you know?'

"It is only fair. If we beat them every time it would be a terrible show."

Meanwhile, Mark also opened up on the selection process and insisted biz show chiefs are on the lookout for a smart female quizzer who "looks like she can be on Love Island".

He added: "I have been asked on all of the Britain, America and Australia shows, 'Can I find a female quizzer who can play like Anne [Hegarty] or Jenny [Ryan] and looks like she can be on 'Love Island'.

"I call that Project Unicorn. I am not saying there are not any out there. TV is a very visual medium. TV will forgive almost anything except being boring."

The 56-year-old star admitted there are definitely people out there who are stronger quizzers than him, but he insisted the Chasers all stand out because of their personalities.

He explained: "So many people say they are better quizzers than me and I say, 'I know you are', but if you have a personality out there, then there is a job for you.

"We have a simple test for being a Chaser and that is to get 20 questions right in two minutes and if you do that you are probably not going to cost too much money."