Paul Sinha, star of The Chase, has said that he received a letter requesting that he verify his citizenship despite having resided in the nation his whole life.
For more than a decade, the TV personality has featured on ITV’s quiz show as one of the Chasers, also nicknamed as The Sinnerman by viewers and presenter Bradley Walsh.
The adept quizzer is also a successful comedian, having been on several radio shows as well as at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival over the years.
The 53-year-old detailed his ‘unpleasant’ condition with his NHS trust in a fresh series of postings made on X (previously Twitter).
‘Received an official letter from my NHS trust demanding I provide several documents proving I’m a UK citizen, despite my protestations about having lived here my entire life. Feel like Jonathan Pryce in Brazil, and it’s not pleasant,’ he shared, presumably referring to the 1985 film Brazil, starring the actor.
He continued: ‘I have eight days to scan and email over my passport and three utility bills. In the meantime another NHS trust is happily looking after another aspect of my health without alarm. An unpleasant shambles.
‘”Failure to supply this information may result in appointment cancellation, removal from waiting lists, invoicing for treatments.” I have an NHS pension.’
In another article, Paul stated that he believes the need for confirmation of UK citizenship is due to a technological error.
‘I ought to point out that I think this is a computer glitch,’ he stated.
‘But despite my protestations which could have been easily checked, I’m now in a bureaucratic nightmare. Like many people my bills are paperless.’
In response to one of his followers questioning him about what’s happened, he added: ‘It’s a glitch it seems. Last week I was rung up out of the blue.’
Paul recently came out against a fan idea regarding famous candidates who appear on special charity episodes of The Chase.
Some observers claimed that the show is gentle on the celebrity performers since they are seeking to generate funds for charity.
However, Paul shut this claim down, stating on X: ‘With two seconds to go, I once prevented Rachel Johnson from winning £15k for Parkinson’s UK. A quiz is a quiz.’
