Paul Sinha, a Chaser on the ITV game show The Chase, has revealed that his real name is Supriya, which he describes as a "girl's name."
Appearing on the Staying Relevant podcast, host Sam Thompson introduced the 56-year-old and noted that his real name "isn't actually Paul."
Why Paul Sinha Uses a Different Name
Sinha explained: "It's a weird thing, it's quite a common thing with sons of Asian immigrants in this country, we often, in Bengali it's called a Daknam and a Bhalanam. Your Daknam is what they call you. Your Bhalanam is what you're really called."
He continued: "My real name is Supriya, but it's spelt with an A which means it gets pronounced Supriya (with emphasis on the a), which is a girl's name, and so there was quite a good motivation to have a more common name. They called me, my mum and dad, called me Paul all my life."
School Friends Know Him by His Real Name
The quiz expert shared that while growing up, he was generally known as Paul but was referred to by his "real name" at school. "So all my school friends know me as Supriya, but I'm called Paul by literally everybody else," he added. He revealed that his parents chose the name Paul because it was "the first thing that came into their heads."
On television, Sinha is also known to The Chase viewers as The Sinnerman. He joined the show as its fourth Chaser in 2011 and currently forms part of a team of six, alongside Anne Hegerty, Mark Labbett, Shaun Wallace, Jenny Ryan and Darragh Ennis.
Health and Future on The Chase
Based on statistics from last year, he stood out as the most successful Chaser with the strongest win record after achieving a 78 per cent success rate over 436 episodes. In a recent podcast appearance, he opened up about his plans for the show while giving insight into his health after receiving a Parkinson's disease diagnosis.
Sinha said that his condition does not affect his quiz performance, although he says he would step down from the show if it compromised his abilities: "What I've always said about The Chase is, if I think I'm a liability I'll just leave." He added: "If I think I'm not worth my position on the show, I'll just say it's time to make a dignified exit."
