TV’s Mark I owe US success to 1D Niall
Ex-Towie star Mark Wright says he has finally made it in the cut-throat world of US television.
Fed up with being branded a “thick Essex boy”, he proved doubters wrong and grabbed his big break by interviewing James Corden for the Extra channel, impressing bosses with his hunger to do the job.
He also got a little help from One Direction star Niall Horan.
Mark said: “Reality shows carry a stigma. You get, ‘ I can’t take him seriously. He is thick. He is from Essex’.”
His LA agent got Mark a foot in the door after he saw Mario Lopez host Extra and said: “That’s the job I want.”
At an interview, Mark was told to produce, direct and interview a celebrity such as David Beckham, James Corden or One Direction.
Determined to impress, he called Niall, 24, who gave him behind- the- scenes access to his music video. The network loved it.
Mark said: “I will thank Niall forever.”
He was hired full- time after a last-minute request to interview James Corden just as he was leaving LA.
Mark said: “The producer calls and says, ‘Mark are you still in town?’ I was like, ‘ I am but I’m leaving now’. She said, ‘We had a James Corden interview and we were going to ask you to do it’.
“I get on the plane and I’m like, ‘I’ve got to get off’. The next day I interviewed Corden.
“My boss told me, ‘I knew you were hungry because you got off that plane’.”