Bradley Walsh was left struggling to contain his laughter on The Chase after a bizarre question about the use of an animal to lay cables for the broadcast of Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s wedding led to an unexpected answer from Shaun Wallace.
The hilarious moment unfolded when contestant Ryan was asked which animal had reportedly been used to lay cables around Buckingham Palace ahead of the broadcast of Charles and Diana’s wedding.
The three possible answers were a mole, a ferret or a badger.
Ryan had already endured a difficult start to the episode, answering none of the questions correctly during his Cash Builder and reaching the head-to-head against Shaun Wallace, known as The Dark Destroyer, with £0.
Wallace then offered Ryan a choice between a £5,000 negative offer and a huge £59,000 higher offer.
Ryan’s teammates encouraged him to accept the minus offer so he could return to the team for the Final Chase. However, he decided to stick with his £0 and attempt to take on the Chaser.
Bradley Walsh’s ferret theory leaves him in stitches
When the cable-laying question appeared, Ryan selected ferret.
Bradley Walsh immediately began joking about the idea of an animal carrying cables around the palace.
“Can you imagine a mole taking the cables through?” the presenter quipped.
He then acted out the imagined scene, joking about the animal emerging from a hole while asking where the cable should be placed.
When Ryan’s answer was revealed as ferret, Bradley questioned whether the animal could realistically handle the job.
“Do you know how big a cable is?” he asked.
Ryan defended his choice, insisting: “They used to use ferrets to do that.”
Bradley acknowledged the claim but explained why he found the idea so difficult to picture.
“Yes, but you know what, they would’ve attached a string for what’s called a pull-through,” he said.
He then burst into laughter at the thought of attaching something to a ferret and sending it through the route.
“You can’t attach that to a ferret, by the time the ferret’s gone four feet he would be like…” Bradley joked, mimicking an exhausted animal gasping for breath.
The studio descended into laughter as the presenter continued struggling to compose himself.
Shaun Wallace makes the wrong choice
Bradley then revealed the correct answer.
“Here we go… correct answer is… of course it’s a ferret. Well played, step closer to home.”
But the joke did not end there.
The Chaser had selected mole, which appeared on screen as the incorrect answer.
Bradley immediately seized on the mistake, reminding Shaun that moles have extremely limited vision and are effectively blind in daylight.
The exchange left the presenter visibly amused as Shaun’s answer allowed Ryan to move one step closer to home.
Ryan’s difficult start costs him
Despite the comic moment, Ryan was unable to add any money to the team’s prize fund.
Karen, Sally and Armin eventually progressed to the Final Chase as a team of three, with £17,000 available to win.
Starting with a three-step advantage, the trio managed to reach 18 on the Final Chase board, although Bradley believed they needed three more answers to give themselves a comfortable chance of holding off the Chaser.
Armin was particularly impressive during the round, repeatedly buzzing in and answering questions.
Shaun praised his performance, saying: “Great performance, on the button the whole way.”
However, the team ultimately could not hold off The Dark Destroyer.
The Dark Destroyer catches them with one second remaining
Shaun answered two questions incorrectly during the Final Chase, while the team managed just one correct answer.
Even so, the Chaser continued to close the gap.
With only one second remaining, Shaun caught the team and ended their hopes of taking home the £17,000 prize.
One particularly costly moment came when the contestants answered “French” rather than “France” to a question involving cheese.
The narrow defeat brought an end to the team’s run, while the earlier ferret question provided one of the episode’s most memorable moments—particularly for Bradley Walsh, who could barely contain his laughter at the thought of a cable-carrying ferret.
The Chase airs weekdays at 5pm on ITV.