Rylan Clark reveals behind-the-scenes ‘trauma’ of competing on The X Factor and why it still affects him now
RYLAN CLARK won fame and fortune after starring on the X Factor – but admits he left the ITV series with some unwanted baggage.
The Radio 2 DJ has revealed that being asked to perform songs he wasn’t comfortable with in front of millions of TV viewers — as well as judges including Louis Walsh and Gary Barlow — left him suffering from PTSD.
He claims being told to perform tunes beyond his ability — to enhance his role as the series “joke act” — could have left him seriously damaged.
In fact, he admits he now “hates being made to sing” at all.
Rylan, says: “Every week I was thrown into the lion’s den doing stuff that I didn’t know.
“It’s like an internal thing now. Once you’ve been through that, when someone goes, ‘Go on, just do it’, it makes me go, ‘I can’t, I can’t just go and do it’.
“I feel like I’ve worked so hard to move away from that ‘f*ing idiot’ that I was perceived as, that character who couldn’t sing.” He added: “That could f someone up majorly.”
Rylan, who finished fifth in the 2012 series, opens up about his trauma in the final episode of his BBC Two series Rob And Rylan’s Grand Tour, which airs this Sunday.
His co-host Rob Rinder arranges for him to sing with an opera concerto in Rome, but Rylan has a mini- breakdown and turns his back on the opportunity.
He admits the experience triggered some unpleasant memories from his time on the X Factor, which he has tried to put behind him.
Rylan adds: “My job on X Factor wasn’t to be the singer, so I played that role. My job was to be the joke act, the one everyone would speak about and be on the front page of the paper every day.
“If I’ve learned anything on this Grand Tour, it is that there’s more to me than that.
“I’m not thick, I’ve got more to give than just being that idiot on the telly with the shiny teeth.”
That’s why he still has a huge career 12 years later.
RAFE’S BATTLES WITH FOOD
HE stars in Apple TV+ series Trying alongside real-life girlfriend Esther Smith, but Rafe Spall hasn’t always been so successful on screen or in relationships – due to struggles with his weight.
He told the Where There’s A Will, There’s A Wake podcast: “I’ve never reached an equilibrium in my relationship with food, I’ve never figured it out – but I was a chubby kid.
“My PE teacher was a horrible b****rd, a bully, and he used to make remarks.
“There was an assumption that I would never amount to something, that I was just a waste of space.
“By the time I was 19, I was about 20st, but I lost a lot of weight and my career changed.
“Then I started getting leading parts and girls were interested.”
SAME STARS… ANOTHER DAY
THE last time they starred together on screen, Pierce Brosnan and Toby Stephens were at daggers drawn as James Bond and nemesis Gustav Graves in 2002’s Die Another Day.
However, as my image, shows, they are getting on famously in new Prince Naseem biopic Giant.
It features Pierce as the boxing champ’s trainer, Brendan Ingle, and – as I can exclusively reveal – Toby as top promoter Frank Warren.
MARISA READY TO CAST OFF . . .
THE cast of BBC One’s bonking-and-banking drama Industry all seem to be vying for our attention in these new series three images.
There’s newcomer Kit Harington in bright pink socks playing tycoon Henry Muck and long-standing cast member Myha’La Herrold as Harper, with a new pixie haircut.
But Marisa Abela, who plays financial whizz and siren Yasmin, wins by a leg.
The actress, who has been in the headlines playing Amy Winehouse in movie biopic Back To Black, returns along with her long-time admirer Robert, played by Harry Lawtey.
Industry fans, like myself, will be thrilled to see the old cast back on the show, which is set to air later this year.
But there’s no sign yet of David Jonsson as the unassuming and wise Gus.
Fingers crossed he was just camera- shy when these pictures were taken.
AFTER the success of the first series, BBC Three gay dating show I Kissed A Boy will be back for more.
Dannii Minogue will return to play Cupid as ten singletons are matched up and meet with a kiss.
Layton Williams returns to provide the voiceover for the new series.
ELEANOR: SEXY LIKE A SLUG
ELEANOR TOMLINSON is no stranger to filming raunchy sex scenes.
But to really let loose as Lady Gabby ahead of the third series of The Outlaws, she took some inspiration from a very unlikely source.
Eleanor explained: “We had an intimacy co-ordinator who said, ‘I want you to really take down all your barriers and boundaries, so let’s make some animal noises’.
“She asked, ‘Do you know the animal with the biggest sex drive? It’s a slug – so let’s make a slug noise’.
“And we’re just standing there like, ‘What!?’.”
The results will be seen in her steamy – and very loud – lesbian romps when the comedy drama, which also stars Stephen Merchant and Rhianne Barreto, returns to BBC One at 9pm on May 30.
TED TOUR NO GOAL FOR NICK
MOVING away from Richmond was likely a good call for Ted Lasso star Nick Mohammed.
The actor, who played Nate in the hit series, used to live in the leafy London suburb where the show is set before joining the cast of Jason Sudeikis’s comedy-drama.
But his rise to fame in Ted Lasso didn’t make it easy getting around.
He told the Dish podcast by Waitrose: “We used to live in Richmond before that, so it was our stomping ground, and we only moved last year.
“It was mad because I would be just regularly doing a jog over Richmond Green, but it looked like I was hanging out for people to be like, ‘Hey, it’s Nate’.
“They now do Ted Lasso walking tours in Richmond – we were there and saw this tour walk past, and my son was like, ‘My dad’s in Ted Lasso’. They went mad!”