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Shaun Wallace is best known for being The Dark Destroyer on the TV quiz show The Chase (2009-). His TV quizzing started in 2004 when he appeared on Mastermind, and since then he has appeared on a number of high-profile shows including Countdown (2019), Catchphrase (2019), and The Weakest Link (2001).
Alongside his quizzing, Shaun is a barrister at Great James Street Chambers, having been called to the Bar in 1984. He has taken part in hearings at the Old Bailey, and at several magistrates’ courts in England, Wales, and Scotland. He is also a member of the South Eastern Criminal Bar Association. Owing to his heritage, he has been a member of the Jamaican Bar since 1999.
Alongside his TV exploits, he is an active keynote speaker, especially in the area of social enterprise and education aimed at inspiring young disadvantaged audiences to fulfil their dreams. He is often hired to speak at Black History Month events where he offers up his own experience with racism.
To book Shaun Wallace call UK talent agent Great British Speakers on 01753 439289
SHAUN WALLACE – MEDIA STAR
In 2004, Shaun Wallace became a champion of the long-running BBC quiz show Mastermind, where he answered questions on his special subject: FA Cup Finals.
Shaun is best known now for his appearances on The Chase, as “The Dark Destroyer”. He has also appeared on the celebrity version of the show, and The Chase Australia (2018).
He has also been a finalist on the first series of Are You An Egghead? (2008), appeared on Fifteen to One, and Greed. In 2019 he appeared on the celebrity version of Catchphrase and as a guest in Dictionary Corner in Countdown.
He has also appeared as a guest star on Daybreak (2011), Let’s Sing and Dance for Comic Relief (2017), When Gameshows Go Horribly Wrong (2017), The Wright Stuff (2018), Jeremy Vine (2019), Lorraine (2018-20), Good Morning Britain (2018-20), and This Morning (2016-21).
Away from being a quizzer, Shaun has appeared on The Junk Food Experiment (2019), where alongside singer Peter Andre, former MP Nadine Dorries, and actress Sally Ann Matthews, he underwent an extreme junk food eating regime in a ground-breaking experiment. Then in 2019, he appeared on DNA Journey, where he discovered all about his ancestors.
In 2018, Shaun released his autobiography Chasing the Dream, which looked at his childhood, his ancestry, his career – both legal and quizzing – and his social enterprise commitments.
SHAUN WALLACE – SPEAKING AND SOCIAL ENTERPRISE
Shaun devotes a lot of his time to social enterprise work speaking in schools, colleges and other institutions. He conducts debates at schools and colleges around the country. His aim is to inspire others and to share his experiences and successes.
Shaun is very passionate about helping disadvantaged people join the legal industry, saying that legal fees should be increased to encourage young people form a wide range of backgrounds to become barristers.
Shaun spends most of his evenings dedicating his time to charity events, often hosting quiz nights and moots to raise money for many charities.
One of his most poignant speaking topics is on racism, and it comes after he starred in the channel 5 programme Racism: My Story (2020), which responded to the rising racial tensions across the globe. He shared his own experiences of racism through emotive interviews.
SPEAKING TOPICS
The Black British Experience: Shaun relays his own lived experience as a black man growing up in Britain. He talks about the different forms of discrimination he has had to overcome, and how he managed to achieve prominence in his professional field. His response to “defeating prejudice is to defeat it with intelligence.”
Black History: Shaun is a popular keynote speaker, especially during Black History Month. He actively campaigns for children to be taught more about black history in order to foster an inclusive environment for all British citizens.
Stop & Search: Shaun provides an insight into the experience of being stopped and searched by police – something that happens more to black individuals than white. He explores how young black people can better handle the experience of a stop and search, and respond in a way that will foster peace rather than friction.
At Harrop Fold, we have a very diverse community, and in keeping with Black History month, we were lucky enough to have Shaun Wallace deliver a live broadcast to our entire school. Shaun was everything we as educators look for in speakers, inspirational and resilient. All of our staff and students thoroughly enjoyed what Shaun had to say and would love to welcome him to the school in the future. Thank you, Shaun.
Harrop Fold
We thoroughly enjoyed having Shaun at Chateau Impney. He is great fun, incredibly approachable and was fantastic with our guests. We have received nothing but compliments about him and I would have no hesitation in having him back.
Chateau Impney
Our students had the best time with Shaun at our All Halls Quiz. He certainly has lots of fans in Leeds and we can’t wait to invite him for an in-person session.
Jemma, University of Leeds
It was a wonderful opportunity to have Shaun speak at Chaucer’s first-ever Black History Month celebration. In fact, he was our very first guest of the celebration. He was inspiring, knowledgeable and spoke many truths about the history and current position of people of colour in the UK… Overall, we were very happy to have had Shaun as a speaker at our event.
Shirley, Chaucer
I’ve been inundated with so many kind messages about Shaun’s talk (even some marriage proposals for Shaun!). He was absolutely brilliant and I can’t sing his praises enough for the impact he made on the staff that were on the call. He asked me to update him in a year’s time, and I would really like to keep in touch to let him know about the progress we are making. I’m still new in this role and he’s given me so much to consider.
Natasha, Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Specialist, Kindred
We really enjoyed having Shaun share his journey and experiences with us on Wednesday. He is an amazing speaker/storyteller and was a great addition to Valtech’s Black History Month.
Hannah, Valtech