Rylan: ‘If Mary in Old Drearysville’s got an issue, she can f*** off’

It’s a decade since Rylan Clark gloriously subverted expectations of the ‘novelty’ talent show contestant. He talks to Jacob Stolworthy about his new memoir, his experiences on ‘The X Factor’, the return of ‘Big Brother’ and 10 years of being in on the joke

’The first version of my book would have ruined lives:’ TV and radio star Rylan on his new book, his breakdown and the forthcoming ‘Big Brother’ reboot (Matt Holyoak)

The year had barely started when the tabloids came for Rylan. Back in January, a video of the presenter on a night out in Soho, filmed by an anonymous person, was posted online. In the clip, the unknown figure is seen laughing with Rylan who, with a megawatt grin on his face, declares with gleeful abandon: “Give me the gear!” As far as the tabloids were concerned, they’d got the goods. “Rylan Clark caught demanding drugs,” one headline read. Another called him “troubled”. But what they failed to understand was that the TV star was – shock horror! – making a joke.

“It was a drug dealer outside Freedom,” says the 33-year-old TV and radio host, with a hint of frustration in his voice. “He’s filming and comes and puts his arm around me, so I’ve joked, ‘Come on then, get the gear out.’ If I was doing a line off someone’s chest, then fine, I’d get the headlines, but what killed me the most was they were like, ‘We’re gonna print it, but if you want to do an interview, we’ll listen with a sympathetic ear.’” He laughs, incredulously. “F*** off, you silly bastards! I made a pissed-up joke on a night out; stop making up lies and do your job properly. Go and find a paedophile somewhere.”

It’s this frankness that might explain how Rylan – born Ross Richard Clark – has ensconced himself into the hearts of the viewing public for what is now a full decade. In 10 years, the Stepney-born former part-time model has gone from controversial talent show contestant to daytime television king, with a fluidity fuelled by its – I’m sure he won’t mind me saying – unexpectedness. In 2012, Rylan appeared on series nine of ITV’s The X Factor, where he entertained viewers with his extravagant renditions of ABBA and Madonna classics, dressed in eye-catching outfits while surrounded by backing dancers dressed as, among other things, giant chess pieces. He was that year’s annual “joke” contestant – but it was a mistake to write him off as such. Rylan made it to the quarter-final, finishing in fifth place – a coup considering, in week one, he had finished in the bottom two. He only escaped elimination by the skin of his teeth after Louis Walsh brought the judges’ vote to deadlock, a result that so upset judge Gary Barlow that he stormed off set in a strop. In a matter of weeks, though, Rylan was receiving the third highest number of votes; the more the public were exposed to him, the more they realised he wasn’t really a novelty act, but a shrewd performer in on the joke.

He knew that a million people could have taken his place on that year’s series, but was willing to cater to the whims of those in front of and behind the camera. “I was never that ridiculous,” Rylan tells me. “I was aware of what people thought and I was happy to play the game. On camera, I’d be in a light-up boiler suit but back at the hotel, I’d be in a check suit with a beer.”

This game he speaks of turned out to be the long one. Whether it was his intention or not, he’s played it rather well. A year after The X Factor, Rylan won Celebrity Big Brother, which was followed by a role hosting the reality show’s discussion series Bit on the Side. He’s been a stand-in presenter on ITV’s This Morning since 2014 and, five years later, the BBC recruited him for the same role on The One Show. He currently co-presents Strictly Come Dancing’s companion series It Takes Two on weekday nights, while Radio 2 listeners can hear Rylan fronting his own show on Saturday mornings. In other words, his chatty, no bulls*** shtick is in very high demand. If Rylan began on the back foot when it came to proving himself to the masses, he’s triumphantly exceeded expectations.

It’s something he is wryly aware of. “I’d be a multibillionaire if I had a pound for every time someone said, ‘I couldn’t stand you when you first started, but I like you now.’ I take it as a compliment. I just go, ‘You do realise I’m no different? I’m exactly the same. It’s you who thought I was something else.’”

Rylan speaks with a disarming, devil-may-care honesty; answers to questions feel intimate, authentic, unrehearsed. Barely five minutes into our interview, it’s as though we’ve known each other for five years. He possesses the kind of rare charisma that suggests he leaves most people with this impression. His age, like most of his career so far, has the potential to wrong-foot people. Although only 33, he has a striking sense of wisdom by virtue of the sheer amount of life he’s lived in his decade under the spotlight. These experiences are the subject of his new book, Ten: The Decade That Changed My Future.

Amid the victories, there have been difficult moments too – most notably, the breakdown he had in 2020 following the dissolution of his six-year marriage to former Big Brother contestant Dan Neal. In the book, Rylan speaks of the “overwhelming feeling of grief” he felt after the separation, adding, “Things got really bad, and I became very seriously unwell. I couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, couldn’t talk, nothing. I couldn’t watch TV or listen to music. I felt like I was having a stroke, or worse. I stopped working completely.”

I’d be a multibillionaire if I had a pound for every time someone said, ‘I couldn’t stand you when you first started, but I like you now’

With help from his mum Linda and brother Jamie, Rylan was checked into a mental health hospital where he spent time recovering away from the cameras and drones that, during this time, were “flying over my house”. In their own relentless, soulless way, members of the press were trying to work out why he had disappeared from TV screens. Rylan acknowledges that such pitfalls of fame, not to mention his bursting work schedule, exacerbated the breakdown. “It all played a part. When you don’t stop, you don’t have a chance to look at what’s happening around you. So, when I did stop, I thought, ‘What has happened to my life?’”

In the book, Rylan describes a visit from his friend and former This Morning colleague Eamonn Holmes as “a wake-up call”. This moment, he tells me now, was when he knew he was really ill. “I didn’t know he was coming and when I saw him upset…” Here, he trails off for the first and only time. “I’ve just never seen Eamonn like that. I didn’t realise how bad I’d got. I was nine stone and I’m 6ft 4in, so you can imagine what I f***ing looked like.”

He is now “doing a lot better” and is “in a good place”, and explains that he had, in fact, agreed to write the book before the breakdown. He could have chosen to shy away from addressing his struggles. Instead, he decided to tackle the subject head on. He found writing Ten “cathartic, but at the same time f***ing scarring”.

‘I deserve to mark 10 years in the industry:’ Rylan presenting ‘This Morning’ (Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

“When all of that happened, I thought ‘f***, I’ve signed up to do a book.’ But I’m glad I did it because I deserve to mark 10 years in the industry.” Still, his decision to bravely address the subject came with its own obstacles – namely working out how much to include. “There were four versions of the first chapter. There was the angry version where I said everything, then there was the chapter where I said nothing, and they’ve been amalgamated. But mate, the first version would have ruined lives, let’s put it that way. I’ve done it the classy way. I’ll tell my truths, and I’ll leave everyone else to tell theirs.”

That philosophy extends to talking about the duty of care measures that were in place for contestants on The X Factor. In August, it was announced that a new documentary would explore claims of mistreatment behind the scenes of the show and would feature allegations from ex-contestants. Rylan is aware of the documentary and says it’s “difficult” for him to comment on, but alleges that “there was one massive incident” he went through during his time on the series.

“When I was a contestant, a lot of things happened that I wouldn’t let happen to me now,” he says. “It’s not my story to tell but I’m sure that people will know what happened at some point. I just know that I did everything right. All I can say from being on the other side is that I make sure, with all the shows I work on, people are looked after and maybe that comes from a place of being in situations where I didn’t feel that I was. When I used to do Big Brother, I’d go and see all the housemates after they went in and would always make sure they were OK. I f***ing married one, for God’s sake.” (An X Factor spokesperson said: “Duty of care to our contestants is of the utmost importance to us. We take the welfare of anyone involved in our programmes extremely seriously and have thorough and robust measures in place to ensure everyone feels supported. These measures are under constant review and are adaptable to reflect the unique requirements for each series.”)

When I do This Morning, I ask questions like I’m at home. ‘Why are you here then? Oh, you f***ed a ghost? Tell me about that’

His mention of Big Brother seems a good time to address the elephant in the room: will he be hosting the reboot that was announced by ITV2 earlier this year? Following the news, many assumed Rylan had been tapped for the job – but, according to the presenter, it’s far from a done deal.

“I’ll make no secret of the fact I want to do Big Brother. There have been talks, but there’s probably a million talks with different people,” he says, almost defeatedly. “I would love to go back as I’ve not said my goodbyes, but it depends on whether they want it to be completely fresh. If it’s not me, I just hope to f*** it’s someone else who loves it, or it won’t work.”

Even if – perish the thought – Rylan doesn’t present the new series, it’s unlikely he’ll be short of work. The versatile host seems aware that there’s nobody quite like him on television. Who else would arrive on the set of This Morning and discard the “pages and pages of briefs” handed to him by fastidious producers in favour of his own straight-talking approach? In this way, for viewers as well as producers, he’s a walking oxymoron – a wildcard yet an extremely safe pair of hands.

‘I was aware of what people thought and was happy to play the game’, says Rylan (BBC)

“I’m a fan before I’m a presenter. I’m the viewer on the inside but sat on the sofa in the TV. When I do This Morning, I ask questions like I’m at home. ‘Why are you here then? Oh, you f***ed a ghost? Tell me about that.’ Producers love me because I’m never out to get anyone. I’ll get stuff out of people without being an arsehole. I can ask hard questions but only when they’re necessary – and never for the sake of it.”

Whatever happens, it seems an increasing number of people are forgetting his not-so-humble X Factor beginnings; he takes this as a testament to his successes. “Listen, I gave myself a massive challenge of going, ‘Right, I’ll be like this for a little while but now, I’ve got to show you there’s a lot more to me,” Rylan says. “If I wasn’t in on my joke maybe I wouldn’t still be doing my job now, but I try not to live up to anyone’s expectations except my own. So, if Mary in Old Drearysville’s got an issue, she can f*** off.”

And, of course, in another decade, he could always write the follow-up to Ten. “Well, that’s if the drugs don’t get me,” he quips, without missing a beat.

Rylan’s book ‘Ten: The Decade That Changed My Future’ is out now