THE Chase star Shaun Wallace “lost thousands of pounds” filming the ITV quiz show.
The quizzer, known as the Dark Destroyer, joined the show alongside Maths supply teacher Mark Labbett back in 2009.
Shaun, 64, who is a top criminal defence barrister by day, was said to have been left out-of-pocked while filming the show.
His fellow co-star Mark, 59, claimed the Chasers were paid just £100 per episode at the start.
He opened up about his financial struggles during the early days and said: “Shaun and I both lost money at first.
“We earned just £100 a show and had to take time away from our better-paid jobs to do it.
He added to the Mail: “Shaun lost thousands.”
Shaun previously explained that his legal career requires him to take extended breaks from the show.
When the star is absent from the programme, many fans often jump to the conclusion that he has “quit”.
But Shaun previously explained that his primary job is his priority.
On The Hearing – A Legal Podcast, he said: “If I’ve got a long trial, then that will take precedence over my filming, and The Chase know that.
“But I’ve then got to makeup my other episodes later on in the series.”
Shaun previously revealed that his school careers teacher brutally dismissed his job prospects and told him he was going to end up in prison.
He dreamed of being a lawyer from the age of ten after watching TV courtroom dramas.
But he was bluntly told that he would end up being on the wrong side of the law instead.
“She said to me in a really cold and dismissive manner: ‘Wallace, what do you want to be when you leave school?’” Shaun told Kaye Adams on her How to be 60 podcast.
“I said: ‘I want to be a lawyer.’ She looked at me and said: You? A lawyer? At best, you’re going to end up stacking shelves.
“Someone like you is going to end up in prison.
“To be told as a 15 year-old you’re going to amount to nothing more than a criminal was heartbreaking to say the very least, but even as a 15 year old-kid I thought – nobody’s controlling my destiny.”
He went on: “I mean, she was right about me ending up in prison. Only after seeing my client, I can go home again.
Shaun grew up in Wembley, north west London with his parents who immigrated to the UK from Jamaica.
He went to his local secondary school, and when he initially applied to law school, he was rejected, but he insists he wouldn’t change a thing.
“In terms of setbacks, the disappointments, the failures, the successes, why would I want to change it? Why would I want to live a life whereby everything is handed to you on a plate? Who’d want that?” he told How to be 60.
“I think you get a greater sense of accomplishment climbing from nowhere to achieving something, and I’m thankful for that.”
Shaun, who was the first black person to win Mastermind in 2004, said that he was proud of the colour of his skin.
He said: “I don’t think there’s a prouder person. If I had my life again, I’d want to be born black, I’m so proud. I’m proud of the areas that I grew up in and so proud that I still live on the same road 60 years after I moved here.”
Shaun has competed on a host of TV quiz shows, including Fifteen to One, The Weakest Link and Are you an Egghead?
