Life’s been rather groundhoggy but I won’t moan from my nice house…
TV presenter Rylan on his lockdown challenges, facing his fears and why he’s so protective of his Gogglebox sidekick, adored mum Linda
WHEN Rylan ClarkNeal answers the phone with the familiar “Hi, babe!” in his charming Essex drawl, it’s easy to understand how he has fast become one of TV’s most popular entertainment presenters.
He’s chatting from his fabulous Brentwood home, complete with voice-activated electronic controls and even a Big Brother Diary Room, where he’s spending lockdown with husband Dan Neal and stepson Cameron.
“Life is a bit groundhoggy, isn’t it,” he says, laughing over the chimes of a passing ice cream van. “But I’m not going to be one of those people on telly that moans about lockdown from my nice house.We’re lucky.There are people a lot worse off than me.”
So famous he only needs his first name these days, Rylan burst on to our screens as a contestant on The X Factor in 2012, and was a bit of a national joke at first with his dramatic meltdowns. But in eight short years, the East End-born kid has become the one-in-a-million reality TV success story. “Now look who’s laughing,” he says.
Rylan, 31, reckons it’s the fact he’s resolutely “not a diva” that means he’s constantly working – whether it’s on Strictly: It Takes Two, Ready Steady Cook, Supermarket Sweep, Celebrity Gogglebox, with his mum Linda, or his new BBC One makeover show You Are What You Wear.
The show sees a squad of stylists help people with wardrobe woes, while ex-model Rylan, all piercing blue eyes and blinding smile, offers a shoulder to cry on.
“I hold my hands up, I’m not a stylist!” he says. “My job is to be the hand to hold, which is what I’m good at. I like talking to people and asking them about their lives.” Rylan, who has spoken out about being bullied as a child and struggling with his confidence, admits he can relate to the show’s guests, who have to face their fears in a full-length mirror.
He says: “People know how much my appearance has changed. I’ve always been open, whether it’s dyeing my hair or having aesthetic procedures.
“I’m not saying surgery is great and Botox is fantastic and fillers are amazing, but if you really are genuinely unhappy with something and you’re in a position to change it, then I don’t think people need to be vilified for that.
“Sometimes I’ve gone too far with procedures – when I was on The X Factor I had my lips overfilled – but that is a learning curve. I wouldn’t say go and have a face-full of filler, but as long as you’re doing it safely, there’s nothing wrong with wanting to change things.”
SO HAS a makeover and successful career, with a huge fanbase, including 1.6 million Twitter followers and 1.3 million on Instagram, boosted his self-esteem? “I definitely feel more confident. But I don’t think I’ll ever be content. That’s who I am. Maybe I’ll never be content and that’s all right.” Rylan shies away from the celebrity lifestyle, having left his party days firmly in his twenties. He says: “I think I hit 30 and realised the people you work with haven’t got to be your best friends. I’ve got a handful of friends that are genuine mates in the industry and that’s all I need. I don’t love the celebrity side of it any more.
“Now I just like doing my job, earning my money, then coming home. I don’t need reminding of the fact that I’m that bloke with the big teeth off the telly.” In fact, he’s happier slobbing about on his own sofa than getting all dressed up to visit glamorous celebrity haunts.
He says: “To unwind, my go-to is put a tracksuit on and watch reruns of Keeping Up Appearances and Birds Of A Feather.”
Of course, we’ve all seen Rylan sitting on his sofa on C4’s Celebrity Gogglebox, although it’s his mum Linda who has become the fan favourite.
“Yeah no one cares about me, they all care about Linda!” laughs Rylan, who is extremely close to his mum, who raised him as a single parent.
She suffers from Crohn’s disease and has had several brushes with death, nearly dying from sepsis in 2018.
Rylan admits he has been extremely worried about her during the Covid-19 pandemic, wishing people would “play by the rules”, but is thrilled they are now reunited in a “bubble”.
Producers have been clamouring to snap up Rylan and Linda, 67, for their own show, but Rylan reveals he won’t ever say yes.
He says: “We’ve been offered a lot but this isn’t the life I want for my mum, absolutely not. Doing Gogglebox is nice because she feels comfortable, it’s just us two round my house.
“It was so lovely to see the
public reaction last Friday when everyone was like ‘Oh my God, Linda’s back!’ but I think that’s enough for Linda. It would probably give me a taste of my own medicine as I know my mum has to sit there and watch me go through certain things. “Any time there’s a story about me that’s a load of old rubbish, my mum always rings and believes it. She’s crying down the phone.” Often branded a diva for playing up to the drama, he maintains that he’s the “least diva person” he’s ever met in TV. He says: “The main thing I’d want people to know about me is that I’m normal. I don’t see myself as important or special. I do read everything on social media and I get upset. You can have a million nice things said about you, and it’s the one bad thing you want to call out. But me and my bank balance would rather be the one talked about. “When I get horrible comments about being gay or whatever, I just remember I’m not a horrible person, I don’t treat people like s***, I’m nice to work with and I’m good at my job. That’s why I work so much.”
Rylan, who took a few months off in 2018 after a burnout, admits it can get a bit intense.
He says: “Without sounding ungrateful, everything becomes work. So there’ll definitely be the odd morning where I’m up at 4am because I’ve got to be on set for 6am and I just think ‘What the **** am I doing?
“But then I remember that kid eight years ago who was so desperate to get into it, so I just realise how lucky I am. I get paid well for doing a job I love.”
Fuelled by at least seven cups of coffee a day – “Otherwise I don’t know where I am or what’s going on” – Rylan says that at least work keeps him fit.
He’s got a gym but claims to be the most unfit, unhealthy person he knows. “When McDonald’s reopened I cried,” he says, possibly not joking.
He has tried to make the most of lockdown, although it hasn’t all been plain sailing for him and 40-year-old Dan, his husband of nearly five years.
“Our home is a picture of classic Britain,” he says. “One minute you get on, the next minute you’re rowing. I’ve got Dan and Cameron, who is 20 going on 30. We never all spend this much time together like this. I love to row! Neither of us is chilled out.”
But while Rylan is one of the busiest men in showbiz, his journey from reality show to host is not one he takes for granted.
He says: “I sometimes forget the road I took. I don’t think I’d ever recommend it. People often ask me about duty of care, having come from reality shows, but I’m probably the worst person to ask because it never finished for me. I don’t know what it feels like for that whirlwind to end.”
Rylan admits he tries not to think too much about his success.
“I don’t want to think about the future,” he says. “I live in the now and that works for me.”
●You Are What You Wear airs tomorrow on BBC One at 8pm. All episodes available on BBC iPlayer