Rylan: “Dan and I have been bickering during lockdown!”
Rylan Clark-Neal speaks to Closer about his marriage, celebrity pals and bringing back Big Brother
It’s a modern-day love story, with Rylan Clark-Neal meeting his husband Dan Neal when the ex-police officer was a contestant on Big Brother in 2013, and host Rylan was there to interview him after his eviction.
The pair tied the knot two years later, and have been blissfully happily married ever since. But Rylan, 32, admits that, like many, spending all day, every day together during the COVID-19 lockdown has led the couple to get on each other’s nerves.
He tells Closer, “Have we been bickering? Oh my God, yes! Like any other couple [during this time]. I think that’s normal life, isn’t it? And if you’re married and you don’t have [disagreements], then f*****g hell – are you human?
NOTORIETY
“We’ve also done so much decorating during lockdown. We’ve got two outbuildings that were full of rubbish from our old house and we never got round to sorting it out until now. So, that’s seemed to drag on, because during the first lockdown I started looking at things that I wasn’t happy with, so now a total overhaul is happening.”
Joining their bubble in lockdown is Dan’s son Cameron, 20, from a previous relationship – and who Rylan has previously said he “looks at like he’s my own” – as well as Rylan’s mum, Linda, 68.
Linda has become a fan favourite in her own right, thanks to her quick wit as she
‘I don’t see Katie much, but I’ll always be there for her’
regularly joins her son on the Celebrity Gogglebox sofa. The pair are close, and see each other a couple of times a week, with Rylan admitting it was “really difficult” being apart for a month recently when he was forced to self-isolate after coming into contact with someone who had coronavirus.
He says, “I didn’t see my mum the week before I went into the two-week isolation period, and then for some days afterwards, so it was almost four weeks that I didn’t see her, which was really difficult. She’s in a single household, so she’s on her own.
“Luckily we have things like FaceTime and phone calls, but it was so hard, because I’m used to seeing her all the time. Although, I joke that it was nice because she couldn’t just turn up and steal things from my house, like she normally does!”
Rylan first found fame on Jordan’s modelling show, Signed By Katie Price, in 2011 – finishing runner-up to winner Amy Willerton – but gained notoriety on The X Factor a year later. Since then, he has carved out a hugely successful career as a TV presenter, hosting Big Brother spin-off shows, as well as reboots of popular daytime shows Supermarket Sweep and Ready, Steady, Cook.
Yet, despite his hectic work load, he hasn’t forgotten the former glamour model who took a gamble on him all those years ago.
“Katie was there for me from day one,” he says. “I knew her a year before I did X Factor, from when I worked with her, and we got on really well. I always looked up to her because she was a normal girl, but she did something that was a little bit taboo and turned it into a completely new life for herself.
GOSSIP
“When I was presenting Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, I’d always get Katie on the show. It was nice to repay that favour of her holding my hand in the early years.
“I don’t see her as much as I’d like to nowadays. Yes, she’s been through her ups and downs, and I’ll always be there for her, but she seems really happy at the minute. Hopefully Carl [Woods] is the perfect man for her.”
Rylan also remains close with his X Factor family and says, “Nicole [Scherzinger], Louis [Walsh] and Tulisa – I still keep in touch with them quite a lot. I haven’t spoken to Louis for a long time, but he’s an absolute laugh. He’s been around forever, and he knows everything. Whenever I see Louis, the first thing he’ll say is, ‘What do you know? C’mon, what do you know?’ We’ll have a proper tenminute session where we’ll talk about people – I love it. He’s the best one for the gossip.”
Despite being billed as a “novelty act” on the talent show, Rylan has exceeded even his own expectations by winning over the nation and being touted for some of TV’s best-loved shows. He previously told Closer the reason he has been successful is because he is “grateful and nice to everyone.”
And now he dreams of bringing back his favourite show Big Brother, which was pulled in 2018 after 18 years on air and 19 series. Earlier this month, he had a Zoom meeting with some previous housemates, such as series seven’s biggest stars, Glyn Wise, Nikki Grahame and Pete Bennett.
Rylan laughs, “I will not stop bringing up BB, because it’s the show that changed my life! It’s where I learned to do my job. Plus, I think there’s quite a big irony if BB were to come back – we’ve all been locked up in our houses and then when we’re finally free, we can lock people up again! I say, let’s do it.”
By Julie-Ann Trainor
● Rylan is working with BT’s +1’s campaign to beat loneliness. Visit Bt.com/plusone