Residents at Ryman Healthcare’s Logan Campbell Retirement Village who turned up for their monthly quiz night got a real thrill when one of the world’s most well-known quizzers turned up to join in!

Shaun Wallace, aka the Dark Destroyer from TV1’s The Chase, is currently touring New Zealand and wanted to make a return visit to Logan Campbell after an extremely well-received presentation in February 2019.

Adding to the excitement was comedian Ben Hurley with a film crew in tow, to do a story for Seven Sharp.

As soon as Shaun walked out into the lounge, there was a huge round of applause and cheers of delight prompting him to stop and shake hands and hug residents and staff as he made his way to the front.

He is a firm believer in using his fame to help others and had already appeared at a fundraiser event at Eden Park which raised money for John Walker’s Find Your Field of Dreams Foundation.

“I love New Zealand and I couldn’t wait to get back here after visiting four years ago, especially after I heard about the devastation caused by Cyclone Gabrielle. 

“Hopefully one day myself and the other Chasers, including Bradley, will be able to marry up our diaries and actually come to New Zealand together so we can all say thank you very much to this wonderful nation for making the show such a phenomenal success,” he said.

Ben Hurley chats to Brendan's mum Bev, who is a resident at Logan Campbell Village (above) while Shaun took it in turns to help the teams answer the quiz questions (below).

The Chase is one of the most popular tv shows in New Zealand with over 300,000 viewers each episode. It has also inspired several spin off shows as well as 18 international versions since it first aired in the UK in 2017.

Similar to his last visit, Shaun is being accompanied around New Zealand by Brendan Lochead, the founder of quiz company Believe It Or Not Quiz Nights.

Brendan hosted the village quiz night, with assistance from his son Harrison, as a treat to his parents Bev and Bruce, who are residents at Logan Campbell.

Shaun was challenged to put his quizzing skills to the test by taking turns to join the residents’ teams for each of the six rounds.

There were plenty of laughs along the way, including Shaun’s impromptu singing of James Brown’s I Feel Good to demonstrate the answer to one of the questions. 

His singing ability – or lack of – has become somewhat of a running joke on The Chase with most of the residents agreeing he should not give up his day job!

Shaun and Brendan break out some moves while Shaun sings for the crowd (above) and poses with residents visiting from Edmund Hillary Retirement Village (below).

Brendan also revealed that Shaun often goes to his local pub quiz in London with fellow Chaser Paul 'The Sinnerman' Sinha and they often only come third or fourth!

After the quiz was over and the Hotspots were announced as the winning team, Shaun worked the room to shake hands, pose for selfies and sign a few copies of his autobiography Chasing the Dream.

Resident Dell Maskery was over the moon to get a signed copy and a few photos with Shaun, saying she couldn’t wait to show it off to her family.

And another resident Lorraine Fletcher, was thrilled to get a photo with Shaun after she had talked to him on a cruise ship a few years ago when he hosted the ship’s quiz.

At one point he got completely mobbed by a group of ladies, (see top pic) one of whom grabbed him in a huge hug and exclaimed: “Oh, you are gorgeous!!”

One of the highlights of the evening was when Brendan revealed that the next day was Shaun’s 62nd birthday, to which the room responded with an early rendition of Happy Birthday – which was much easier on the ear than Shaun’s singing!

And perhaps the biggest highlight was when Shaun got to be a fanboy instead of the other way around. When he heard that Lady June Hillary was a resident in the village and was watching proceedings from the side of the room, he couldn’t wait to rush over and get a photo with her.

The roles were reversed when Shaun heard that Lady June Hillary was in the room, and immediately rushed over for a photo with her (above) and Village Manager Rebecca McMillan and her team were thrilled to get a pic with the Dark Destroyer (below).