BIRTHDAY PARADOX – The Chase QUESTION sparks uproar among UK viewers. “The Chaser” Paul Sinha left baffled – Bradley Walsh visibly stunned.

A baffling maths question on The Chase left everyone stumped (Image: ITV)

Even Chaser Paul Sinha was floored by a mind-bending maths question on ITV’s The Chase on Wednesday (July 30) — leaving both a contestant and baffled viewers at home scratching their heads. RAF pilot Andrew, 32, from Harrogate and currently living in Anglesey, was in the hot seat during Wednesday’s episode when he and The Sinnerman were both stumped by a deceptively difficult brain-teaser known as the “Birthday Paradox”.

The tricky question posed by host Bradley Walsh was: “How many people need to be in a room to give a 99.9% chance that two of them share the same birthday?” The multiple-choice options were 25, 50 or 75. Andrew chose 25, explaining, “I think it’s one of those weird maths [questions], it doesn’t sound very distinctive – but it’s an unusual number so I went for the low.” Even the usually razor-sharp Sinnerman was caught off guard and also answered 25.

Even Chaser Paul Sinha was floored by a mind-bending maths question (Image: ITV)

When the correct answer, 75, was revealed, a visibly shocked Bradley exclaimed: “NOO!”

Paul replied: “I knew it was low so went for the lowest, I’d heard the fact before but clearly not well enough!”

The moment left viewers reeling, with one taking to social media to admit: “Still don’t understand the maths question.”

Another penned: “Is this The 1% Club or The Chase lol? that maths question was so hard!” A third chimed in: “Anyone else feel thick at that maths one?”

Andrew had performed strongly in his cashbuilder round, answering eight questions correctly and putting himself in a solid position to join fellow contestant Wendy from Manchester in the final Chase. Wendy had already banked £2,000 after opting for the lower offer — and sailing through.

But despite a good performance, Andrew’s stumble on the maths question nearly cost him the round. Fortunately, with The Sinnerman making the same mistake, he got a second chance.

Contestant Andy was in the hot seat (Image: ITV)

The Birthday Paradox — which continues to confuse even the brightest minds — states that in a random group of just 23 people, there’s a 50-50 chance two will share the same birthday.

But for that likelihood to hit 99.9%, the number jumps dramatically to 75. The maths behind it involves comparing all possible birthday pairings, resulting in hundreds of combinations — far more than most people intuitively guess.

Before the final Chase, Paul summed it up: “What’s interesting about this team is because of their terrible start [in losing two contestants], I don’t think many of the viewers will have noticed how well they played in their cash builders – because they got 25 questions right.

“Super Team by definition. I’ve managed to halve them, and because I’ve managed to halve them, I’ve made myself favourite for the final Chase – but only slightly.”