Beat The Chasers’ Mark Labbett defends punching Jenny Ryan as ‘karma’ after costly blunder

BEAT The Chasers' Mark Labbett has defended punching co-star Jenny Ryan.

The brainbox, 55, labelled the move as "karma" after Jenny whacked fellow Chaser Paul Sinha back in January.

Jenny, also known as the 'The Vixen' hit Paul in fury after he got a question wrong during the second series of the ITV spin-off show, which aired back in January.

This led fans to believe that they had a fall-out in real life, but days later she hit back at the rumours with a meme that confirmed that they're still pals.

Although everything seemed to have been forgotten about, viewers were shocked when Mark decided to give Jenny a taste of her own medicine on the celebrity special over the weekend.

And the quizzer took to Twitter to justify his actions.

He wrote: "#BeatTheChasers for those who wondered why I punched @jenlion on the arm, it was karma for her punching @paulsinha in same situation last series :)."

Mark decided to get get his own back when Jenny cost the Chasers £30,000 on Saturday night.

Host Bradley Walsh asked the gang and Olympian Christine Ohuruogu a question about religion.

Jenny couldn't help herself and shouted out the answer, and because it wasn't her who was supposed to answer, Christine got through to the next round.

Mark was fuming about what had happened and took matters into his own hands.

Before giving Jenny a gentle whack on the arm, he said: "Before we go any further, I’ve got something to do..."

He added: "Wrong person answered! And wrong person answers kill you."

Runner Christine was joined by EastEnders' Shaun Williamson, comedian Katherine Ryan, funnyman Joe Pasquale and TV presenter Radzi Chinyanganya for the first ever celebrity edition of Beat The Chasers.

And Christine wans't the only successfuly celebrity to get their hands on lots of money for their chosen charity.

The former Barry Evans actor managed to win a whopping £120,000 when he went up against all five Chasers.

A happy Shaun said: "Honestly, inside I’m dancing.

"It means so much to the charity, thank you so much to everyone. They’re going to be so over the moon. It’s going to help so many people. Thank you."

Beat The Chasers is available on ITV Hub.