AT the height of the pandemic in 2020, Mark “The Beast” Labbett was having one of the worst times of his life after splitting from his wife Katie — and catching Covid.
But three years later, the 57-year-old’s luck has seriously changed.
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Not only did The Chase brainbox lose an unbelievable eight stone as a result of the virus sapping his appetite, he also gained a beautiful new girlfriend, Hayley Palmer, 41.
Coincidentally, food has been a theme from the moment they met at last year’s National Television Awards in London.
Hayley said: “I got introduced to him and he was like, ‘Do you know what I’ve got?’. And then he whips out his Toby Carvery Gold Card.
“I was actually really impressed. I thought, ‘I haven’t seen this before’.
“It totally worked. I was trying to steal it. We had a really good laugh.”
Mark recalled how he reckoned he was on to a winner when his card for the roast dinner restaurant chain caught Hayley’s attention.
He said: “I thought, ‘We’re getting on quite well here — let’s get the big guns out’. She walked away at one point with the card and I was like, ‘Er, hang on, that’s mine’.”
But Mark, who measures a towering 6ft 7in, didn’t just fall for Hayley’s wicked sense of humour.
He also loved the fact she was tall like him — standing at 6ft 1ins in her high heels.
However the couple feared their imposing statures would make them stick out like sore thumbs as they tried to keep any romance under wraps.
Mark said: “She very kindly invited me to the Dirty Dancing Press night in London and nobody was expecting us there.
“But people see me from 100 yards.
“I’d get recognised in the street because of my size before I was famous. I’m really easy to spot. Then when I’m next to this stunning lady, they can spot us a mile off.”
Despite their loftiness and being extensively photographed together, no one realised they were on a date.
‘I’d love to do Strictly’
But there was no doubt they were growing close as a couple when they laughingly crossed swords — over their favourite sweeties.
Hayley said: “In the actual show you bought some Maltesers and I was like, ‘That’s actually my favourite chocolate!’. I was trying to watch Dirty Dancing and said, ‘Here, have the Maltesers gone?’. And he’d eaten them all.”
Hayley had told Mark he could finish off the packet — and he’d made the error of believing she meant it.
He joked: “It was a rookie mistake on my part, but I very quickly bought a second packet.”
In an even bigger signal the pair were a great match, modest TV reporter Hayley didn’t mind that Mark’s quiz show career earned him all the attention.
Yet he still wasn’t confident she’d welcome his efforts to woo her with open arms.
He said: “I can tell you what the capital of Estonia is — Talin — but what does it mean when that pretty girl fires you that funny half-smile?
“I can’t read women with the aid of a road map. I am utterly useless.
“At the end of the evening I was going, ‘I really like her but I can’t pick up a tell if she likes me or not’.
“So I thought, let’s take refuge in honesty and said, ‘I really like you, is there any chance of another date?’.”
Next time they met, the couple enjoyed a meal at a fancy restaurant, where Hayley made an even bigger impression on Mark.
He said: “I scrubbed up well as I was going to a nice restaurant and all I can say was this vision in red came wafting over.
“And afterwards, we were walking round hand in hand and it’s just been so comfortable. We’ve sort of been dating for about five or six months.”
Mark, who has starred on ITV’s The Chase since 2009, has seen his life change dramatically since meeting Hayley.
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Back in 2020, he suffered a heartbreaking split from his wife, Katie, who was 27 years his junior.
The couple had a son together called Laurence.
They had been married for six years after meeting on social media in 2010, with the future Mrs Labbett saying she’d never heard of The Chase or its quiz expert.
It was only later that they discovered they were actually second cousins.
Mark said of life without being in a relationship: “I had been a single man for a long while, so I was getting used to the idea of being on my own.”
Fastforward to 2022 and freshly-separated Katie had moved on with a new man, but Mark was still single and felt committed to his family.
He said at the time: “We are separated but we get on really well, we co-parent.
“I promised to look after her and I promised to look after my kid.”
The breakdown of his marriage was not the only blow Mark suffered that year.
Early in 2020, he was struck down by an illness which he believes was Covid. He said: “The worst virus ever hit me in March 2020.
“And if you remember, that was the time where you couldn’t get a test for love nor money.
“If you were bad enough you got put in hospital. And I wasn’t.
“I was exhausted. I noticed my appetite never really recovered. I’m just not hungry anymore. That’s helping to lose the weight.”
Like many couples, he felt the strain of the pandemic on his marriage.
And he admits that his relationship with Hayley also comes with its challenges.
Mark, who lives in Rotherham, while she is in Chelsea, West London, said: “We’ve only been on a few dates because we lived 150 miles apart. We get diaries out and go, ‘When are we going to be physically in the same location?’.
“It’s probably about time I moved down to London because it’s where my work is.
“I’ve seen my colleagues, those who’ve lived up north, they look so much calmer now as they’re living down here.
“Sooner or later all the mileage up and down the motorway gets to you.”
The age gap isn’t a problem either, according to Mark.
He said: “Obviously I’m a little bit older than her, but I think it depends on who you’re with. I’d argue I’m a very childish 57.”
There seems to be a renewed confidence in Mark since he lost weight, and he says he wouldn’t mind dabbling in other TV projects beyond The Chase.
He explained: “I’d love my own football game show.
“And if the good folks at ITV see fit to hand me one, I‘d grab it with both hands.
“I really, really, really would like to do Strictly Come Dancing. Now we’ve got the weight down I’d love to do it.”
It looks like we might be seeing a lot more of Mark — and here’s hoping Hayley does too.
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How The Beast made me a fortune
MARK revealed that he’s made a fortune after registering “The Beast” as a trademark.
And The Chase bosses have since made sure every chaser on every version of the show around the world has a nickname.
Mark’s co-stars on the British show, including “The Governess” Anne Hegarty, have had their names trademarked by ITV. But he says he made his money by making sure he personally held the rights to his nickname.
He said: “I trademarked ‘Mark the Beast Labett’ and ‘Beat the Beast’ when I realised The Chase was going somewhere in 2013.
How it happened was that the focus groups loved it. So now that’s why I’m afraid every chaser in the world as a nickname.
“But I own mine because I’m a better lawyer than they are.”
As well as The Governess and The Beast, The Chase has The Vixen (Jenny Ryan), The Sinnnerman (Paul Sinha), The Menace (Darragh Ennis) and The Dark Destroyer (Shaun Wallace).
Hosted by Bradley Walsh in the UK since its launch 14 years ago, there are now versions of the show in Australia, China, Croatia, Germany, Norway, Russia, Serbia, Turkey, and America.
Mark, who also appears with Anne on the Australian version of the quiz, says he has a perfect defence prepared should anyone argue he should not be allowed to trademark his name.
He said: “Would you like me to bring up 30 or 40 people who knew me as ‘The Beast’ way before The Chase ever existed?
“I mean, even the wi-fi at my flat was called ‘Beast in the Basement’ and that was back in 2007.
“My little brother, Big Phil, all 6ft 9ins of him, who calls himself the Big Beast. We’ve been known as Beast and Big Beast for 25 years, way before The Chase ever existed.
“Also la bête – very close to my name – is French for The Beast. And then you throw in the size. I’ve got all the receipts.”
Mark says he has no problem with being referred to in the street as The Beast, and is crying all the way to the bank.
He said: “I had a courier cyclist shout: ‘Beast!’ at me the other day – and that’s normal.
“I look at it this way: It’s made me my fortune because I own my trademark. I made sure I did.”
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