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'', where she is nicknamed "The Vixen".

Career

Ryan's first quiz show appearance was on ''

University Challenge ''University Challenge'' is a British television quiz programme which first aired in 1962. ''University Challenge'' aired for 913 episodes on ITV from 21 September 1962 to 31 December 1987, presented by quizmaster Bamber Gascoigne. The BBC ...

'', helping the

University of Leeds The University of Leeds is a public research university in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. It was established in 1874 as the Yorkshire College of Science. In 1884, it merged with the Leeds School of Medicine (established 1831) and was renamed Y ...

to reach the semi-finals in 2003. She also appeared on ''

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'' in 2006, choosing the American television series ''

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'' as her specialist subject, and appeared in both 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 ...

'' in 2008 and 2009. She found success on '' Only Connect'' as a member of the team The Gamblers, who won the third series of the show in 2010. Additionally, she has made appearances on ''

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'' and ''

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'', and worked as a QI Elf. Ryan has written questions for game shows. She joined ''The Chase'' as a chaser in 2015, making her debut appearance on 2 September. She was recommended for ''The Chase'' by

Anne Hegerty Anne Solway Hegerty (born 14 July 1958) is a British professional 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 IT ...

, as they had competed on the same quiz team, with Ryan serving as captain. She has also played in the

Quiz League of London The Quiz League of London (QLL) is a British quiz league based in London. Founded in 1990 as the ''Quiz League of South London'', it was southern England's first independent self-administered quiz league. The matches themselves are mostly hosted ...

since 2008. Her nickname on the show is "The Vixen", in reference to her red hair, freckles and ponytail; Bradley Walsh came up with the name and the producers liked it since "vixens are notoriously clever and cunning". She is also referred to as "The

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

Brainiac" and "The

Bombshell". In 2017, Ryan appeared alongside fellow chasers

, Shaun Wallace and

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

on '' Let's Sing and Dance for Comic Relief''. They won the competition, performing a '' Wizard of Oz'' medley. In 2018 Ryan, along with comedian Lucy Porter, launched Fingers On Buzzers, a podcast about quiz and game shows. The duo appeared on Richard Herring's Leicester Square Theatre Podcast in early 2019, where they discussed Fingers On Buzzers and other topics. In July 2019, Ryan appeared on the 14th series of ''

Celebrity MasterChef ''MasterChef'' is a British competitive cooking reality show produced by Endemol Shine UK and Banijay and broadcast in 60 countries around the world. The show initially ran from 1990 to 2001 and was revived in 2005 as ''MasterChef Goes Large' ...

''. In October 2019, she began competing in '' The X Factor: Celebrity''. She was initially eliminated before the live shows, with heavy criticism of this decision from viewers leading to her being asked back to join the live shows. She went on to reach the final and finished in third place. Ryan also plays the ukulele.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ryan, Jenny 1982 births 21st-century English singers 21st-century English women singers Contestants on British game shows English television personalities Living people Participants in British reality television series People from Bolton Quiz championship players Women television personalities Alumni of the University of Leeds