The Chase star Paul Sinha has revealed that the moniker fans know him by is not his real name. While appearing as a guest on the Staying Relevant podcast, host Sam Thompson introduced Paul to listeners, but pointed out that his name "isn't actually Paul."
Confirming that this was the case, the 56-year-old 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."
Daknam and Bhalanam Explained
"Your Daknam is what they call you. Your Bhalanam is what you're really called," he explained. "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," he added.
School Friends Know Him as Supriya
The quizmaster went on to say that, while growing up, he was generally known by Paul, although he was called 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, before revealing that it was his parents who chose the name as it was "the first thing that came into their heads."
On screen, he is also known to The Chase fans as The Sinnerman. Paul joined the show as its fourth Chaser in 2011 and is now one of six, alongside Anne Hegerty, Mark Labbett, Shaun Wallace, Jenny Ryan and Darragh Ennis.
Highest Win Rate and Health Update
According to statistics from last year, he came out on top as the Chaser with the highest win rate, boasting a 78 per cent success rate across 436 appearances.
In a recent podcast appearance, he opened up about his future on the show while providing an update on his health following his Parkinson's disease diagnosis. He was diagnosed with the condition, which causes parts of the brain to become progressively damaged over many years, in 2019.
According to the NHS, the main symptoms include involuntary shaking of particular parts of the body (tremor), slow movement, and stiff and inflexible muscles.
Paul has said his condition does not affect his ability to quiz, although he admits he would step away from the show if he believed it did.
"What I've always said about The Chase is, if I think I'm a liability I'll just leave," he said on The Courage To Speak podcast. "If I think I'm not worth my position on the show, I'll just say it's time to make a dignified exit."
The quizmaster, however, remains determined to "get on with life" and pursue his career, which also includes stand-up comedy. The Chase airs weekdays from 5pm on ITV and ITVX.
