‘WHAT’S THE POINT?!’ Furious The Chase viewers turned OFF their SCREENS after Monday night’s episode saw a DISAPPOINTING first episode of the new ITV series

Beloved host Bradley Walsh, 65, welcomed four new hopefuls to the studio, all battling to beat the Chaser and win a sizable cash prize.

But contestants Angela, Susan, Archie and Jak quickly faltered when faced with Chaser Mark ‘The Beast’ Labett.

First to the podium for her ‘cash builder’ round – which sees players answer a range of trivia questions within a time limit – was Angela from Bristol.

Angela impressed watchers by bagging a decent £5,000, but she took a gamble and opted for the high offer of £30,000 when going head-to-head with the Chaser.

But her ambition was swiftly shot down when The Beast caught up with her after just four questions.

Next up was Susan, who brought in a respectable £4,000 in the cash builder, and battled Mark for the same sum.

But Susan, too, was booted out of the competition and became the second not to make it through to the final chase.

Student Archie followed in his teammate’s footsteps and earned £4,000 in the cash builder.

Playing it safe, Archie opted for the low offer of £1,000 but, in the third devastating blow to the team, he did not make it past the Chaser.

The team’s last hope was Jak, who showed promise when he brought in £6,000 in his general knowledge speed round.

In a last-ditch attempt, he chose to play for the high offer of £100,000 – and followed suit when he was caught by The Beast.

The team suffered a total wipeout before reaching the ‘final chase’ – marking the first such outcome in the new series.

Together, the four nominated Jak to return to the podium for the final round, where he was given £4,000 to play for.

Despite answering 14 questions correctly, it wasn’t enough to secure the win and take home the cash – and the Chaser caught him with a comfortable 15 seconds still on the clock

Viewers were furious, and took to social media to air their frustration.

One wrote of Archie taking the low offer: ‘The £1k is an insult, and he chose it anyway?’

Another chimed in: ‘When someone takes a low offer like that, I just switch off. What’s the point? Got better things to do.’

A third echoed the sentiment: ‘Out on a £1k low offer. Where does ITV get these contestants from?’

Others lamented the first loss of the season, and claimed it made for bad viewing.

‘First wipeout of this series,’ one commenter wrote, and another said: ‘Oh dear. Everyone has been caught! The Chase has completely gone down the toilet by the looks of it!’

Another summed it up: ‘What a waste of an hour of TV time…’