GIFT OF THE GAB

Rylan Clark-Neal’s television career is nothing but a dream come true for the former model who had his eyes firmly set on stardom. Denise Marshall caught up with the fast, and sometimes furious, funny man from Stanford Le Hope

After winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2013, Rylan Clark-Neal was soon snapped up to present spin-off chat show Big Brother’s Bit on the Side leading to his role as a key player on This Morning.

Last year alone saw Rylan interview Madonna on The One Show, appear on Channel 4’s Celebrity Gogglebox with his mum, co-present Strictly: It Takes Two on BBC2, land his own programme on BBC Radio 2 and hired by ITV to bring back cult game show Supermarket Sweep. He is currently delighting audiences as the host of relaunched 90 hit series, Ready Steady Cook on BBC1.

Born Ross Richard Clark, Rylan is still just 31 years old, but his life has changed dramatically in the last decade since his flamboyant debut on The X Factor in 2012. And his story is all the more heart-warming from his difficult roots in East London’s Stepney Green, teased for his chubby looks and ginger hair. After moving to Stanford le Hope, the natural comedian grew into a svelte teenager with a love for grooming and a quest for fame.

Big Brother’s Little Brother was very new territory for Rylan, but his passion for the product meant he learned the ropes in record time. He has this break to thank, not just for kick starting an infectious presenting journey, but for finding love with series 14 housemate Dan Neal, 41, a former police officer.

The pair married in 2015 and are now settled in a luxury five-bedroom home with Dan’s son Cameron, 20. And this Essex bolthole is where extravagances begin and end for Rylan, who stresses he is only high maintenance in appearance.

Despite proving his flair for cooking by reaching the final of Celebrity MasterChef in 2015, he makes it hilariously clear that the venture into a world of flowing fine wine and exotic canapes hasn’t changed his tastes.