ITV The Chase's Mark Labbett hit by health scare on Celebs Go Dating
Celebs Go Dating has returned to screens for its 14th series, as the popular reality dating show gets underway. Relationship experts Anna Williamson, Dr Tara Suwinyattichaiporn and Paul C Brunson are back at the agency.
And of course, not forgetting everyone's favourite receptionist, Tom Read Wilson. Among the stars seeking love on Celebs Go Dating is The Chase star Mark Labbett. "I've been single for most of my life," he admits. "I'm a little bit on the spectrum."
Mark, famed for his portrayal of The Beast on ITV quiz show The Chase, confesses that interpreting human signals is far more challenging than answering quiz questions. "Facts are easy, people are complicated."
A health scare related to diabetes added an extra layer of difficulty to filming for the television star, as reported by the Mirror. "One night, I had a hypoglycaemic attack," he reveals. "I might have been a bit grumpy that night. I apologised to everyone after."
Mark explained that a nap on set aided his recovery. However, the real surprise came when the agents asked him to interpret social cues. "I went, 'What do you mean?,'" he recalls. "'You don't notice people's emotions when in the room? ,' and I said no. There was shock on both sides."
Meanwhile, Anna Williamson was delighted to return to the Channel 4 reality series. The newest season of Celebs Go Dating has had an exotic twist, as the celebrities embark on their dating adventures with a trip to Ibiza.
"Get your popcorn ready," Anna teases. "We have a 'new' agency this series. We've got amazing celebrities who are so different. They each brought such different challenges for us coaches to work on."
The new series will welcome some familiar faces from the showbiz world, including Love Island's Olivia Hawkins, Too Hot To Handle's Louis Russell, The Sandman's Donna Preston, and Made In Chelsea's Sam Prince are all set to embark on their journeys alongside Mark.
Joining them are television personality and autism advocate Christine McGuinness, singer and reality star Kerry Katona, who is making a comeback to the show after six years, and S Club 7's Jon Lee.
"The challenge this year was trying to keep up with the celebrities and their dating prowess," Anna admits. "It was quite challenging to help some of our celebrities unlearn certain behaviours. Some of them didn't know how to even walk into a date and execute it appropriately."
Anna, Tara, and Paul will be on hand once more in guiding the celebs as they navigate through their dates, spotting any detrimental patterns. "We let things play out," Anna reveals.
"They feel emotional, tearful – that's part of the process. It's a very important part of the work. When we get to our vulnerable side, we start to look at what needs to be done."
The journey can be difficult, especially when dealing with high-profile celebs. "With celebrities, they are typically very guarded," Anna highlights.
"They've usually lost a bit of faith in the dating world because they've been burnt a lot along the way. Their dating pool tends to be smaller because they tend to date more within their celebrity circle.They've been burnt by people selling stories or that haven't been dating them for genuine reasons. They can be a bit guarded and jaded."
Regarding what lies ahead, Anna holds ambitious expectations for the programme. "Pete Wicks has been on three times, we may as well have Sam (Thompson) on three times," she remarks. However, her true desire is for a reunion.
"I would love to do an All Stars version of Celebs Go Dating," she reveals. "Paul and I are always talking about this, because we've had so many celebrities come through our doors. We are always in touch with them."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
23 minutes ago
- Daily Mail
Mark Labbett feared he would 'die a bachelor' before finding fame on The Chase and then marrying his second cousin Katie
Mark Labbett feared he would 'die a bachelor' because women were not interested in him before he found fame on The Chase. The 59-year-old TV personality was a single man 'for over 20 years' before he joined the ITV quiz show as The Beast in 2009, and then he went on to be in a several serious relationships. This included his second cousin Katie Labbett, 32, who he met on Facebook in 2010, began to date in 2012 and then married in 2014. They welcomed their seven-year-old son Lawrence in 2018, but Katie and Mark split in 2020. Following The Beast's separation from Katie, Mark dated TV presenter Hayley Palmer, 44, in 2023. However, in May 2024, he dumped Hayley days after their first dating anniversary in a 'three-minute' phone call. Now, Mark is taking part in the E4 dating show Celebs Go Dating. He hopes to find his perfect match, with the help of the programme's dating agents, Paul Carrick Brunson, 50, Anna Williamson, 44, and Dr. Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, 36. Mark exclusively told BANG Showbiz at the Celebs Go Dating launch party event at The Broadcaster gastropub in White City, West London, on July 24: 'It's getting to the point now with the joy of social media, a photo of me with a woman suddenly it's a new date. 'With this girl, I said, 'Sorry about this, I did warn you if you put up that photo.' 'And I tend to think, 'Where was all this speculation 20, 25 years ago?' 'I was a single man for over 20 years. I genuinely thought at one point before The Chase came along, 'Am I going to die a bachelor?' 'Suddenly, I'm in a relationship, which is why this has been good because you listen to experts, so finding out advice from them.' In 2020, Katie - who had been dating senior design engineer Scott Bate for 18 months at the time - and Mark split because their attempts at an open marriage failed. The Beast also blamed other factors, including their 27-year age gap, the Covid-19 lockdown and his own mental health, for their eventual split. In 2024, Hayley and Mark separated - with Hayley claiming at the time he dumped her because he 'didn't want to divorce his ex-wife', but Mark later told The Sun newspaper their separation was because he 'got old'. However, Mark - who had a 15-year age gap with Hayley - insisted to BANG Showbiz he does not have a 'bad word' to say about Katie or Hayley. Asked if he thinks it is now better to share a similar age with someone, as opposed to having a big age gap like he did with Katie and Hayley, Mark said: 'What I would say is age is really important to some people and completely unimportant to others. 'And, ultimately, I think it's down to the individual relationship. 'I've dated women who are older than me, and I've got no problems with it.' Celebs Go Dating 2025 starts on Monday, August 11, at 9pm on E4.
Daily Record
an hour ago
- Daily Record
Princess Andre admits there were 'dark times' during her childhood in heartbreaking confession
Princess Andre, who is the daughter of Katie Price and Peter Andre, said she 'wishes she had a happier childhood' as she opened up on growing up in the spotlight with her quarreling parents. Princess Andre has made a heartbreaking admission about her childhood as she confesses she wishes it was a happier time for her. The 18-year-old, who is the daughter of Katie Price and Peter Andre, candidly opened up about "dark times" in her own TV show. The teen is now ready to make her career in the spotlight, having watched both her famous parents thrive in their showbiz careers. Princess let cameras into her home as a part of her new ITV2 series, The Princess Diaries, as she paves her way into becoming a successful influencer. However, during the programme, Princess admitted that things haven't always been easy for her. It comes after her controversial mother, Katie Price, recently sparked concern among fans over her very slimmed down appearance. Princess has addressed some of her traumatic memories of her glamour model mum's very public divorce from her dad Pete, as well as Katie's other highly publicised relationships, the Mirror reports. In a candid confession, Princess said: "I did have a counsellor, I do still see her every now and then. "But I don't feel like I can really talk, so I just write everything down in my notes. I do wish, like, I could have had a more happier childhood. In the sense of like, I had so many things on my plate at a young age." Princess said she wishes she "wasn't like that" and that she had to go through things lingering at the back of her mind while being very young. However, she did acknowledge other "good times" in her childhood and spoke about Katie's split from Kieran Hayler when she was 10-years-old. Katie and Kieran were married for eight years but had an on and off relationship, with accusations of infidelity. They officially separated in May 2018 but were married from 2013 to 2021. The former couple share kids, Jett and Bunny. Princess admitted "everything kind of went downhill" as she and her siblings got "really close to him and loved him." "My mum, obviously being heartbroken, didn't deal with that in the best way, she went through a very, very dark time, which is understandable. "Which is hard for me because I was around adulty things that kids should never see and I think as well, when we needed our mum there, she wasn't emotionally able to be there because she had so much of her own problems going on." In a heartbreaking admission, she shared how she would come home from school early to "get into bed and cry". Join the Daily Record WhatsApp community! Get the latest news sent straight to your messages by joining our WhatsApp community today. You'll receive daily updates on breaking news as well as the top headlines across Scotland. No one will be able to see who is signed up and no one can send messages except the Daily Record team. All you have to do is click here if you're on mobile, select 'Join Community' and you're in! If you're on a desktop, simply scan the QR code above with your phone and click 'Join Community'. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. To leave our community click on the name at the top of your screen and choose 'exit group'. Princess said that while she is very close to her dad Pete she would never speak to him about her pain. The model explained she has "always grown up knowing my mum and dad don't like each other." Princess added: "I wouldn't say I'm fully, fully recovered from it but mum is such a different person and if you put her now to back then, she's genuinely really fixed herself."
Leader Live
an hour ago
- Leader Live
Chad Michael Murray embraces his teen heartthrob legacy: ‘It's a blessing'
The American actor, 43, rose to fame in the early 2000s, appearing in TV series such as Gilmore Girls and Dawson's Creek, before landing the lead role in the teenage drama series One Tree Hill. Murray, who also starred in the 2003 comedy film Freaky Friday alongside Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, gained a reputation as a heartthrob among teenage girls during this era. The father–of-three, who is reprising his role as Jake, Lohan's character Anna's former love interest, in Freakier Friday, says he feels very fortunate to have had such an impact on a generation. 'I'm very, very blessed, very fortunate and lucky to be a part of a lot of really great movies and great stories that have affected a generation,' Murray told the PA news agency. 'That's really the only reason to be an actor for me. I just wanted to make people happy.' Murray, who grew up in a single father household in Buffalo, New York, says he moved to Hollywood, when he was 18 years old to pursue a career in acting. 'I think I moved there in September 1999 and I was with Warner Brothers by January 2000,' he said. Freakier Friday sees Lohan and Curtis return to their roles as mother and daughter, 22 years after the first film was released. The 2003 film saw Tess Coleman (Curtis) and musician Anna (Lohan) trade places, after reading fortune cookies at a Chinese restaurant. The story picks up with Lohan's character, Anna, now a mother to a teenage daughter of her own and a soon-to-be stepmother. In the sequel, Anna's daughter Harper, played by Julia Butters and her soon-to-be stepdaughter Lily Davies, portrayed by Sophia Hammons, join Anna and her mother Tess in a wild, quadruple body swap. Reflecting on returning for the sequel, Murray said they had to work out how his character would realistically fit into the updated story. 'It's a house of cards, you move one piece and the whole thing kind of crashes down with four people switching bodies. So we had to be really careful and deliberate with the choices we made,' he said. 'I went straight into analytics mode. We had to flesh out who Jake has been over the last 22 years. What's he been up to? Where's he gone? What's the funniest choice here? And that's where we went. Then it just became exciting from there.' Murray added: 'My joking sales pitch for this film has been, this movie will make you live longer as it reduces cortisol levels. 'If this is the type of content I do for the rest of my life as an actor I'm done, I'm happy, I'm in.' The 2003 film was based on the 1972 novel by Mary Rodgers, which was previously turned into a 1976 movie starring Jodie Foster and Barbara Harris. Freakier Friday opens in UK cinemas on Friday, August 8.
