The Chase star Paul Sinha reveals secret date with Corrie icon before marriage to husband
As Celebrity Beat The Chasers returned to ITV this week, viewers learned of an unlikely celebrity pairing as Paul Sinha revealed he had been on a date with Coronation Street's Shobna Gulati, who is known for playing Sunita, wife to Dev Alahan, in the soap.
The Chaser, who is now happily married to husband Oliver Levy, was set up on a date with Shobna by their parents many years ago, and hadn't seen each other since until Shobna appeared as a contestant on The Chase spin-off this week.
As she took on the game show, Shobna was also reunited with former Corrie co-star Bradley Walsh, who reminisced and laughed over scenes where her character had given his character a slap.
Attempting to build up her initial prize pot, Shobna managed to get two questions right in the first round, taking £2,000 to the Chasers. When it was then time to face them, Paul said: "We've not met since that dinner our parents arranged for us all those years ago."
While a laughing Shobna replied: "I know, I know... the reason why I didn't marry you is because...you are a doctor." Referencing her old scenes with Bradley, trained GP Paul quipped back: "I still remember that slap."
Despite having a connection to the chasers, Shobna didn't manage to beat them during the show, but did go home with a £1000 prize for her chosen charity.
Quizzer Paul, who is known as 'The Sinnerman', came out as gay to his family when he was 35 and has been open about his sexuality since being in the public eye.
He and Oliver started dating in 2016. and tied the knot in 2019, with the pair residing in South London.
Meanwhile, Shobna was married for four years from 1990 to 1994, before having a four year relationship with former Emmerdale actor Gary Turner from 1999 until 2003.
With The Chase and it's spin-off featuring some of the UK's best quizzers, guest star Dom Joly has recently given an insight into how seriously the Chasers take the show in order to stay at the top.
Comedian Dom said that when he was a celebrity contestant on the show, hosted by Bradley, he saw Mark Labbett - aka The Beast - become so angry about a call on one question that the show had to be stopped while they argued.
"What I really liked about beating the Chasers was how angry they got. You kind of think 'Do they give a s***? It's not their money they're handing over'. It certainly wasn't my money either, it was going to charity," he told the Daily Star.
"They started arguing and they actually had to stop the show. And The Beast challenged something and wanted to rethink and in the end, he lost the judgment and then they stopped the clock again. I kind of loved that. "
