The Chase’s Mark Labbett joined the Celebs Go Dating agency tonight as the stars arrived back in London – and his journey started off with an emotional admission

Mark Labbett emotionally opened up during his first day at the Celebs Go Dating agency (Image: Jeff Spicer, Getty Images)

It was back to the London agency for the cast of Celebs Go Dating after an eventful Ibiza getaway. As they arrived in London, they were joined by new recruit, The Chase’s Mark Labbett, who made a devastating admission.

Upon joining the agency, Mark, also known as The Beast, told the cameras that he had been single for just over a year, but missed the companionship and fun that came along with a relationship.

To start off his journey, Mark headed up to the office for a chat with experts Paul C Brunson and Dr Tara, and things got deep pretty quickly.

Mark Labbett joined the agency as a late arrival(Image: Channel 4)

When asked what he was missing in his previous relationships, Mark said: “Probably a degree of self confidence to basically say no. I tended to go along with the flow. I was a single man for pretty much 20 years, and that has good and bad bits.

“When you’re up at 400 pounds, you don’t do a lot of dating,” the 60 year old continued.

Opening up further to the camera, Mark said: “In the past I’ve been 29 stone or 400 pounds, and it does affect your dating life. Probably the main thing is that women don’t notice you as a respective partner. I did give up a little bit.”

Mark Labbett split from his wife in 2020(Image: Instagram/markthebeastlabbett)

Despite opening up about his struggles, Mark was married to his second cousin Katie, who was 27 years his younger, from 2014 until 2020.

At the time, Katie had been dating a senior design engineer for 18 months after the pair opened up their relationship. The former couple blamed their age gap and life during the lockdown for the breakdown of their relationship.

He then went on to date TV presenter Hayley Palmer, but the pair split in May 2024, after a year together. “She’s [Hayley’s] a lovely lady and I was very lucky to date her for a year, and as I said…it’s me, I got old,” he said at the time.

Now, Mark’s on the look out for the one, but will the dating agents be able to help him find her?

Mark’s entrance to the E4 agency came after Christine McGuinness decided to pack her bags and leave the process. Fans had seen Christine struggle throughout, and in a conversation with Anna and Paul during last night’s episode, the mother of three said: “I have been thinking quite a lot while we’ve been in Ibiza, I need to date in a natural environment. It takes me a long time to sit in front of someone.”

“I’ve found the outside attention too much and I’ve found myself finding that I’m hiding more and that’s not what I want.”