'The Chase': Fans hate Sara Haines' slow pace of questioning, demand 'the return of Brooke Burns' in ABC reboot

When a network calls their show 'The Chase', it's meant to create a sense of urgency, of speed. Speed, however, was the one thing fans felt like the ABC reboot lacked in comparision to the version of the show on the Games Show Network, finding fault with the speed that new host Sara Haines read out the questions.

While there were many criticisms of the ABC revival and the various minor changes it made to the show's format, the biggest complaints came in right off the bat, as Sara quizzed contestants in what was meant to be a rapid-fire cash builder round. "Some of the decisions here are baffling. Taking the sound effects but not the awesome music? A host who reads at a snail’s pace? I hope this gets better quickly," was one early response. "Quick thoughts: it's exactly what I figured a new American take on 'The Chase' would be. Set looks nice, $25K is way too high for a Cash Builder and it's making the offers kinda dumb, Sara's fine, I dislike the Chaser's Lounge.." was another. One fan compared teh show to its inspiration, 'Jeopardy' instead, writing, "I’ve been sad about alex trebek every day since he died and his final episode aired and they replaced it with this show #thechase and it’s THE OPPOSITE of jeopardy!!!! gimmicky, the set is so busy, too much talking, not fast paced, hardly challenging. It’s so disappointing" 

As the show progressed, Haines' slow pace of questioning began to invite more and more comparisons to Brooke Burns' lightning fast questioning. "Maybe it’s an intentional effect of offering $25,000 for each correct answer, but in that last Cash Builder, Sara only got through 7 1/2 questions in a minute. Brooke on GSN’s #TheChase would regularly get through a dozen in 60 seconds," wrote a fan. "Given the fact that the UK version can do this with four contestants in an hour, this pacing is crazy. I know @ABCNetwork has more commercial space than @ITV but this pace is hard to watch. How do you build excitement going so slow?" wrote another. "I have so many notes for #thechase but primarily, I demand the return of Brooke Burns" wrote this viewer. "Sorry, #thechase, but #sarahhaines is not quite up to @BrookeBurns’ level at reading the questions as fast and furiously," said this fan.

The next episode of 'The Chase' airs January 14 at 9 PM ET, on ABC.