The Chase’s Mark ‘The Beast’ Labbett, 57, lifts the lid on how he wooed glamorous younger girlfriend Hayley Palmer, 41

DURING 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, .

Coincidentally, food has been a theme from the moment they met at last year’s National Television Awards in London.

Hayley, 41, 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 reckoned he was on to a winner when his card for the roast dinner chain, given to VIPs who can eat all they want, caught her attention.

‘Rookie mistake’

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, did not just fall for Hayley’s wicked sense of humour.

He also loved the fact she was tall like him — standing at 6ft 1in 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 height and being photographed together, no one realised they were on a date.

‘I’d love to do Strictly’

But there was no doubt the pair were growing close as a couple when they crossed swords over their favourite sweets.

Hayley said: “In the actual show you bought some Maltesers and I was like, ‘That’s my favourite chocolate!’. I was trying to watch Dirty Dancing and said, ‘Here, have the Maltesers gone?’. And he had eaten them all.”

Hayley had told Mark he could finish off the packet — and he had made the error of believing she meant it. Mark said with a laugh: “It was a rookie mistake on my part, but I very quickly bought a second packet.”

In an even bigger signal that the pair were a great match, TV reporter Hayley did not mind that Mark’s quiz show career earned him all the attention. 

Yet he still wasn’t confident she would welcome his efforts to woo her. 

He said: “I can tell you what the capital of Estonia is — Tallinn — 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 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 — who did their first joint TV chat on Channel 4’s Steph’s Packed Lunch this week — enjoyed a meal at a 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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In 2020, he suffered a heartbreaking split from wife Katie, 27 years his junior. 

The couple had a son, Laurence, together.

They were married for six years after meeting on social media in 2010, with the future Mrs Labbett saying she had never heard of The Chase or its quiz expert. 

It was only later that they discovered they were actually second cousins.

Mark said after the split: “I had been a single man for a long while, so I was getting used to the idea of being on my own.”

Fast forward to 2022 and Katie had moved on with a new man, but Mark was still on his own 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 any more. 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 Hayley 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 is 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 is not a big 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 would not 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 that.”

It looks like we might be seeing a lot more of Mark — and here’s hoping Hayley does too.

Instagram/@markthebeastlabbett

Instagram/markthebeastlabbett