Shaun Anthony Linford Wallace (born 2 June 1960) is an English barrister, lecturer and television personality. He is one of the six "chasers" on the ITV quiz show '' The Chase''. Wallace is a part-time lecturer and visits schools, colleges and other institutions to educate students on aspects of law. In 2004, he won ''

Mastermind Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to: Fictional characters * Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters: ** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...

'' and was ranked 286th in the World Quizzing Championships in 2012.

Career

Law

Wallace was called to the Bar in November 1984 and in 1986 completed pupilage. He has taken part in hearings held at both the Old Bailey as well as several

magistrates' courts A magistrates' court is a lower court where, in several jurisdictions, all criminal proceedings start. Also some civil matters may be dealt with here, such as family proceedings. Courts * Magistrates' court (England and Wales) * Magistrate's Cour ...

located in

England and Wales England and Wales () is one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. It covers the constituent countries England and Wales and was formed by the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. The substantive law of the jurisdiction is ...

and also in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

. He was a member of

Farringdon Farringdon may refer to: People * Nicholas de Farndone, 14th century Mayor of London Places London * Farringdon, London, an area of Clerkenwell which takes its name from ''Farringdon Station''. * Farringdon Road, a road in Clerkenwell, London * ...

Barristers Chambers until February 2012, when it was announced that he had joined Great James Street Chambers. On 26 October 2016, Wallace was found to have failed to comply with his duty while representing a defendant in criminal proceedings. He was reprimanded and fined £2500. Wallace is also a member of the southeastern circuit of the Criminal Bar Association. Owing to his heritage, he has been a member of the

Jamaican Bar The Jamaican Bar Association is a voluntary organisation of attorneys-at-law called to the Jamaican Bar. It was formed on 16 January 1973. The association is ''not'' a regulatory or disciplinary body and has no power to hear complaints agains ...

since 1999.

Television

In 2004, Wallace became a champion of the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...

general knowledge quiz, ''

'', which also tests a contestant's aptitude on a subject of their choice. His specialist subject in the final was

FA Cup Final The FA Cup Final, commonly referred to in England as just the Cup Final, is the last match in the Football Association Challenge Cup. It has regularly been one of the most attended domestic football events in the world, with an official atten ...

s. Wallace was a finalist on the first series of ''

Are You an Egghead? ''Are You an Egghead?'' is a BBC quiz show that was presented by Dermot Murnaghan. It is a spin-off from the quiz show '' Eggheads'', with its goal to find a further Egghead to complement the existing team. The first series was aired weekdays fr ...

'', narrowly losing out to

Barry Simmons Barry Lawrence Simmons (born 24 November 1948) is a Scottish-born quiz show contestant, the winner of the first BBC Two TV show ''Are You an Egghead?'', and of Brain of Britain 2013. Simmons was born in Edinburgh and now lives in Leeds, West York ...

. Other shows that he has been a contestant on include ''

Fifteen to One ''Fifteen to One'' is a British general knowledge quiz show broadcast on Channel 4. It originally ran from 11 January 1988 to 19 December 2003 and had a reputation for being one of the toughest quizzes on TV. Throughout the show's original run, ...

'' and ''

The Weakest Link ''Weakest Link'' (also known as ''The Weakest Link'') is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and originally ended on 31 March 2012 when its host Anne Robinson completed her contract. ...

'', plus the British adaptation of ''

Greed Greed (or avarice) is an uncontrolled longing for increase in the acquisition or use of material gain (be it food, money, land, or animate/inanimate possessions); or social value, such as status, or power. Greed has been identified as undes ...

''. Since 2009, Wallace has appeared as a "chaser" on the UK television series '' The Chase'', a teatime game show which airs on ITV. His nickname on the show is "The Dark Destroyer". The other chasers are

Anne Hegerty Anne Solway Hegerty (born 14 July 1958) is an English quizzer and television personality. Since 2010, she has been a "chaser" on the ITV game show '' The Chase'' as "The Governess", and was a contestant on the 2018 series of the ITV reality sh ...

Paul Sinha Supriya Kumar "Paul" Sinha (born 28 May 1970) is a British quizzer, comedian, doctor and broadcaster. He has written and performed extensively on Radio 4, and is one of the six Chasers on the ITV game show '' The Chase''. Early life Supriya ...

Mark Labbett Mark Andrew Labbett (born 15 August 1965), also known by his professional nickname The Beast, is an English quizzer and television personality. Since 2009 he has been one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show '' The Chase'' as "The Beast" and ...

Jenny Ryan Jenny Alexis Ryan (born 2 April 1982) is an English quizzer, singer and television personality, best known as one of the six chasers on the ITV game show '' The Chase''. In 2019, she competed in the ITV competition series, '' The X Factor: Ce ...

and

Darragh Ennis Darragh Ennis is an Irish entomologist, neuroscientist, quizzer, and television personality. He is a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Oxford and is known as one of the "chasers" on the ITV game show '' The Chase''. Early life an ...

. He also appears on ''The Chase: Celebrity Special'', ''The Family Chase'', and ''Beat The Chasers''. In 2018, he featured as a guest chaser on the Australian version of the show, alongside fellow UK chasers Hegerty and Labbett. In Australia, he is known as "The Destroyer" owing to Australian concerns the original nickname contained racial undertones, which Wallace himself disputed. In 2018, his autobiography, ''Chasing the Dream'', was released. In 2019, Wallace appeared on the celebrity version of ''

Catchphrase A catchphrase (alternatively spelled catch phrase) is a phrase or expression recognized by its repeated utterance. Such phrases often originate in popular culture Popular culture (also called mass culture or pop culture) is generally recogni ...

''. He also appeared as a guest in "Dictionary Corner" on the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

gameshow ''

Countdown A countdown is a sequence of backward counting to indicate the time remaining before an event is scheduled to occur. NASA commonly employs the terms "L-minus" and "T-minus" during the preparation for and anticipation of a rocket launch, and eve ...

''. Wallace took part in the "Junk Food Experiment" in 2019. In June 2020, Wallace appeared as an assistant in

Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow ''Alan Carr's Epic Gameshow'' is a British game show which premiered 30 May 2020 on ITV. Hosted by Alan Carr, the series features reworked and "supersized" versions of past ITV game shows (primarily from the Fremantle Fremantle () () is a ...

, for

Take Your Pick! ''Take Your Pick!'' is a United Kingdom game show originally broadcast by Radio Luxembourg starting in 1952. The show was transferred to television in 1955 with the launch of ITV, where it continued until 1968. It was the first game show broad ...

In October 2020, Wallace appeared as a Black history month reporter for '' Good Morning Britain''. In November 2020, Wallace took part as a contestant in

ITV's ITV is a British free-to-air public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television network. It was launched in 1955 as Independent Television to provide competition to BBC Television (established in 1936). ITV is the ol ...

''Don't Rock the boat'', a rowing competition show.

Qualifications

* BA (Hons), barrister,

Inns of Court School of Law The City Law School is one of the five schools of City, University of London. In 2001, the Inns of Court School of Law became part of City, and is now known as the City Law School. Until 1997, the ICSL had a monopoly on the provision of the Bar ...

. * Alumnus,

Polytechnic of North London The University of North London (UNL) was a university in London, England, formed from the Polytechnic of North London (PNL) in 1992 when that institution was granted university status. PNL, in turn, had been formed by the amalgamation of the No ...

. * Honorary Doctorate of Law awarded in July 2015 from

London Metropolitan University London Metropolitan University, commonly known as London Met, is a public research university in London, England. The University of North London (formerly the Polytechnic of North London) and London Guildhall University (formerly the City ...

Political activity and public activism

At the

2005 UK general election The 2005 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday 5 May 2005, to elect 646 members to the House of Commons. The Labour Party, led by Tony Blair, won its third consecutive victory, with Blair becoming the second Labour leader afte ...

, Wallace stood as an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

parliamentary candidate, standing in the

Brent South Brent South was a constituency for the House of Commons of the UK Parliament; the areas of the constituency chiefly fell into the new Brent Central for the 2010 general election which was the date of its abolition. It elected one member (MP) b ...

constituency in north London. He obtained 1% of the vote, losing to

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

Dawn Butler Dawn Petula Butler (born 3 November 1969) is a British Labour Party politician who has been a Member of Parliament (MP) for Brent Central since 2015. Butler was elected as the MP for Brent South at the 2005 general election. She served in P ...

. In 2022, he supported the criminal barristers' industrial action over pay. Joining colleagues on a

picket line A picket line is a horizontal rope along which horses are tied at intervals. The rope can be on the ground, at chest height (above the knees, below the neck) or overhead. The overhead form is usually called a high line. A variant of a high li ...

outside the

Supreme Court A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

in London, Wallace said that

legal aid Legal aid is the provision of assistance to people who are unable to afford legal representation and access to the court system. Legal aid is regarded as central in providing access to justice by ensuring equality before the law, the right to c ...

fees should be increased to encourage young people and those from a diversity of backgrounds to become barristers.

Personal life

Shaun Anthony Linford Wallace was born on 2 June 1960 at

Central Middlesex Hospital Central Middlesex Hospital is in the centre of the Park Royal business estate, on the border of two London boroughs, Brent and Ealing. It is managed by the London North West University Healthcare NHS Trust. History The hospital was establish ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. He grew up in

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in north-west Londo ...

and attended Copland School. He is of

Jamaican Jamaican may refer to: * Something or someone of, from, or related to the country of Jamaica * Jamaicans, people from Jamaica * Jamaican English, a variety of English spoken in Jamaica * Jamaican Patois, an English-based creole language * Culture ...

heritage and is the eldest of four children. He is a football fan and a supporter of

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament const ...

. In 2022, Wallace appeared on the ITV programme '' DNA Journey'', which revealed many details about his ancestry in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of G ...

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of Hispan ...

and many other African countries.

Television

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wallace, Shaun 1960 births Living people Lawyers from London Television personalities from London English barristers English television personalities English people of Jamaican descent Black British television personalities Contestants on British game shows Alumni of the Inns of Court School of Law