chase

The Chase Celebrity Christmas Special is airing on Christmas Eve on ITV

Bradley Walsh is left gobsmacked after one star banks a ‘rare’ amount of cash on The Chase Celebrity Christmas Special.

The festive episode airs on Christmas Eve and sees comedian Lucy Porter, Countdown host Colin Murray, Strictly Come Dancing vocalist Tommy Blaize, and actor and comedian Asim Chaudhry take on five Chasers, who are dressed in festive costumes.

In an exclusive clip obtained by The Mirror, it sees Lucy, 52, impress during the cash builder round. At the start of the round, it sees host Bradley, 65, say: “Now, you and I, we’ve known each other a long while. You love quizzing, don’t you?”

To which Lucy admits: “I do, I do. My dad used to, when I was a kid, if we had dinner, you didn’t get pudding unless you could answer a quiz question.

“So, every time I would answer a question, he’d need to give me a slice of Viennetta or an Arctic roll!”

Lucy then gets stuck into the cash builder round, where each correct answer is worth £1,000. In the 60 seconds, Lucy is able to correctly answer ten questions, earning an incredible £10,000.

After the impressive cash builder round, the audience and Lucy’s fellow teammates erupt into cheers.

Meanwhile, host Bradley says: “Well that was very, very rare that we get five figures in a cash builder. Ten grand, congratulations, time to face a Chaser!”

Mark Labbett, Shaun Wallace, Anne Hegerty, Paul Sinha, Jenny Ryan, and Darragh Ennis will all appear on the special festive instalment of the ITV quiz show.

The fancy dress theme this year is Christmas Lunch. The Beast is a Christmas Pudding, The Vixen is a Brussels sprout, The Menace is a Pig in Blanket, The Sinnerman is a Turkey and the The Governess is a Christmas Cracker.

Anne looks glamorous has ever in a blonde curly wig with a glitzy red ballgown for the special occasion where the others don eye-catching costumes to get into character.

The Chase Christmas Special airs on Wednesday 24 December at 5.55pm on ITV1.

For the latest showbiz, TV, movie and streaming news, go to the new **Everything Gossip** website

The Rams have lost four games this season, three resulting in part from special teams breakdowns.

In the aftermath of their defeat by the Seattle Seahawks, coach Sean McVay made a significant move.

Chase Blackburn, the Rams’ special teams coordinator for the last three seasons, has been fired, a team official said Saturday.

Assistant Ben Kotwica remains on the staff.

Earlier this month, Blackburn said, “The job of a special teams coach is to be able to adapt and overcome on all things.”

That proved a challenge for a team that features a high-powered offense, and an at-times dominating defense.

On Thursday night in Seattle, the Rams led by 16 points in the fourth quarter when they allowed Rashid Shaheed to return a punt 58 yards for a touchdown. The play sparked the Seahawks’ comeback that sent the Rams to a 38-37 overtime defeat.

The loss dropped the Rams’ record to 11-4, and knocked them out of the No. 1 seed in the NFC and first place in the NFC West.

The breakdown was the latest in a series of special teams issues that have plagued the Rams.

In September at Philadelphia, the Eagles blocked two field-goal attempts by Joshua Karty, returning the second for a winning touchdown on the final play of regulation.

Two weeks later, in a 26-23 overtime defeat by the San Francisco 49ers, Karty missed a long field-goal attempt and had an extra-point attempt blocked. Karty’s kickoff in overtime did not reach the landing zone, giving the 49ers the ball at the 40-yard line.

Before their Week 10 game against the 49ers, the Rams signed kicker Harrison Mevis to replace Karty and signed veteran snapper Jake McQuaide to replace Alex Ward.

The kicking game solidified. Mevis made all eight of his field-goal attempts, including three against the Seahawks, before he missed a 48-yard attempt with just over two minutes left in regulation.

The Rams, who clinched a playoff spot, play the Atlanta Falcons on Nov. 29 in Atlanta and then conclude the regular season at home against the Arizona Cardinals.

Dealmakers in 2025 enjoyed a near-record year for mergers and acquisitions, despite a turbulent spring that threatened hopes of a broader revival. So far this year, there were 70 global deals valued at more than $10 billion each, 22 of them in the fourth quarter, according to Dealogic. Total deal value has surpassed $4.8 trillion, up 41% from 2024, though the number of deals fell 6% to 38,395, marking the second-largest year ever behind 2021.

The spike in mega deals reflects a growing focus on scale. “M&A today is all about the mega deals, the race for scale,” said Anu Aiyengar, JPMorgan’s global head of advisory and M&A. There were at least four deals above $50 billion, with two notable bids for Warner Bros. Discovery totaling over $80 billion and Paramount Skydance’s $108 billion hostile offer.

Drivers of Late-Year Rally

A more permissive regulatory environment in the U.S., coupled with a calmer macroeconomic outlook, is encouraging companies to pursue transformative deals. With antitrust scrutiny easing under the Trump administration, boards and executives are seizing opportunities for strategic acquisitions, according to Frank Aquila, partner at Sullivan & Cromwell.

Dealmakers also say valuations are rising, prompting companies to pay higher multiples while expecting their own stocks to maintain relative strength. “Valuations have been bid up and we’ve seen clients be more aggressive in terms of multiples,” said Lazard’s Mark McMaster.

Technology and AI Influence

Technology deals, particularly those tied to artificial intelligence, have played a prominent role. OpenAI raised $40 billion in funding led by SoftBank, and Aligned Data Centers was acquired for $40 billion. Morgan Stanley’s John Collins said companies are pursuing scale to invest in AI-driven changes, both in tech and across other industries.

Cross-Border and Global Trends

Cross-border M&A activity surged in 2025, reaching $1.24 trillion, the highest since 2021. U.S. and UK companies were the most targeted, while U.S., France, and Japan were the most acquisitive. Multinational companies, particularly from Europe and Japan, are investing in the U.S. to capitalize on the world’s largest market. China and Japan are also seeing strong outbound activity, with Japanese deal values boosted by high-profile transactions like OpenAI and Toyota Industries.

Corporate divestitures are rising, up 30% in volume from last year, exemplified by Holcim’s $30 billion spin-off of its North American business, Amrize. Private equity is also regaining momentum, with global buyouts reaching $1.1 trillion, a 51% increase from 2024.

Outlook for 2026

Dealmakers expect the M&A rally to continue into 2026, with $50 billion–$70 billion deals already in the pipeline and a $100 billion tech transaction not ruled out. Analysts see a multi-year run of high-value deals, fueled by scale-seeking corporations, AI-related opportunities, cross-border expansion, and corporate restructuring. While caution remains in politically uncertain markets like the UK, the global appetite for transformative deals appears set to drive another strong year for mergers and acquisitions.

With information from Reuters.