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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
Ellie Kemp

The Chase fan carves stars into pumpkins for Halloween

A superfan of TV quiz show The Chase has been mega creative this Halloween.

Lee Rae, 29, has carved portraits of the six Chasers and host Bradley Walsh into pumpkins - and they're seriously impressive.

He's carved out Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan, Anne Hegerty, Darragh Ennis, Paul Sinha, Shaun Wallace and, of course, host Bradley Walsh - with their nicknames in the background.

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From fresh pumpkin to finished product, Lee says it can take up to a whole day to complete one jack-o-lantern.

He uses a stencil to achieve the detailed portraits.

The complete set: Mark Labbett, Jenny Ryan, Bradley Walsh, Anne Hegerty, Darragh Ennis, Paul Sinha and Shaun Wallace. (Lee Rae/Facebook)

He told the Manchester Evening News : "It's not cheating, it’s just how it’s done.

"I make my own stencils, but you can find hundreds of brilliant ones online.

"Most people are willing to share their own stencils, too.

"Whatever you do, don’t just start cutting without a plan."

From there, he uses a serrated knife to cut out the big bright spots, and then a knife to peel the skin back from any shading.

Lee's Chaser pumpkins have been a year in the making; he did the first lot 'over about a month' last Halloween.

But a week or so later, Darragh Ennis was announced as a new Chaser.

"My friends - and Darragh, through Twitter - made me promise I'd complete the set this Halloween," he said.

Lee with the Darragh Ennis pumpkin (Lee Rae/Facebook)

Lee, who lives in Sale, admits that 'The Menace' Darragh and 'The Governess' Anne were the hardest pumpkins to carve.

He said: "Darragh and Anne were the most difficult because the hardest part is always the hair - unsurprisingly, Shaun was the easiest!"

But Lee is no stranger to creating the perfect jack-o-lantern.

He started the tradition a few years ago and has carved, Dames, Sirs, drag queens and some of his favourite scenes from TV and film.

"Last year, I was watching so many quiz shows during lockdown, doing a set of all the Chasers just felt natural," he said.

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