Rylan Clark

Biography

Ross Richard Clark (born 25 October 1988), known professionally as Rylan Clark, is an English television and radio personality and presenter. He came to prominence as a contestant on the ninth series of the talent show The X Factor in 2012, in which he was the ninth contestant eliminated. The following year, he appeared on the eleventh series of the reality show Celebrity Big Brother, which he won. Clark went on to present various television shows, including Big Brother's Bit on the Side (2013–2018), This Morning (2013–2019, 2022–present), The Xtra Factor (2016), Up Late with Rylan (2016), Supermarket Sweep (2019–2020), Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two (2019–2022), Ready Steady Cook (2020–2021) and You Are What You Wear (2020). Since 2018, he has served as a semi-final co-commentator of the Eurovision Song Contest and has presented various shows on BBC Radio 2.

== Early life == Ross Richard Clark was born on 25 October 1988 in the Stepney area of London, to mother Linda Clark. He went to a Catholic primary school and was an altar server. Until he was 11, Clark lived with his mother, older brother Jamie and grandmother Rose in a council house in the Stepney Green neighbourhood in London's East End. After the family moved to Essex, Clark was educated at Coopers' Company and Coborn School in Upminster.

== Career ==

=== Career beginnings === Clark auditioned for S Club Juniors in 2001 when he was 12, but failed to get a place in the band. He then became a part-time model when he was 16. It was during his early modelling career that he adopted the stage name "Rylan," which was conceived when he went into a branch of WHSmith and chose the name from the R section of a baby name book. In 2007, he applied for Big Brother 8, but, "the day I was going in, it got taken away from me because it got leaked to the press. It was devastating." He was in several Take That and Westlife tribute bands in Ibiza, and was also part of a Spanish boy band called 4bidden until 2010. In 2010, he appeared in four episodes of the BBC series John Bishop's Britain. He was then a finalist on the Sky Living modelling series Signed by Katie Price.

=== The X Factor === In May 2012, Clark auditioned for the ninth series of The X Factor at The O2 Arena in London in front of Louis Walsh, Gary Barlow, Tulisa and guest judge Rita Ora. He performed a dance version of Des'ree's "Kissing You." Afterwards, Barlow said: "Rylan, love your personality, hate your voice, really strange song choice as well." Walsh also admitted that he was "a bit worried." Barlow gave Clark a "no," but Ora, Tulisa and Walsh all decided to say "yes" and put him through to bootcamp. At bootcamp, Clark sang the Pussycat Dolls' "Don't Cha" with former Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger, who was then a judge. After his performance, Barlow admitted: "[I] think he's going to haunt me throughout this competition." Barlow was reluctant to send Clark through to judges' houses, but the other three judges were in favour of him advancing. Clark was eventually put through into the boys category with Scherzinger as his mentor. At judges' houses in Dubai, he performed a stripped-back rendition of Rihanna's "We Found Love" in front of Scherzinger and Ne-Yo. Scherzinger later put Clark through to the live shows as one of her final three acts with James Arthur and Jahméne Douglas. She told him: "Rylan, it's such a big risk... but I have to take it, and you are in my final three," and he appeared to have an immense breakdown. Clark sang "Gold" by Spandau Ballet in the first week of the live shows, and was in the bottom two with Carolynne Poole the following night. Scherzinger voted to save Clark, as he was her act, while Barlow and Tulisa voted to save Poole, based on their final showdown performance. Walsh, who had the casting vote, voted to save him, sending the result to deadlock, in which Clark had received more public votes than Poole and was saved, much to the disgust of Barlow, who stormed off stage and who later called Clark a "joke act" and "talentless." In week 2, Clark continued to annoy Barlow by first performing part of Barlow's "Back for Good" and then claiming that he had booked him a cab in advance in case he stormed off-stage again, to which Barlow responded "That's funny [because] I've had yours on hold for two weeks." That week, he was put through to week three on the public vote. In week 5, he was again in the bottom two with Kye Sones, but he was saved by the public vote. This happened after Barlow and Walsh voted to eliminate Clark, while Scherzinger and Tulisa, who had the casting vote, voted to eliminate Sones. Tulisa sent the result to deadlock and Sones was eliminated. In week 7, Clark revealed on The Xtra Factor that his psychic had told him that he would reach week 7 of the competition before leaving. The following night, he advanced to the quarter-final through the public vote, before being eliminated by the judges in the quarter-final, with only Scherzinger voting to save him over Union J.

=== Celebrity Big Brother ===

Clark became a housemate in the eleventh series of Celebrity Big Brother in January 2013. He was the second celebrity to enter the Big Brother House. On launch night, Clark and Italian jockey Frankie Dettori selected which celebrities would join them in the House and who would be banished to the Basement. It was revealed midway through the series that, contrary to the show's rules of staying in the Big Brother House throughout the series, he had been leaving the house each Sunday to rehearse for The X Factor tour, which began a day after the live final on 25 January. He made it to the final five with Neil "Razor" Ruddock, Claire Richards, Ryan Moloney and Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt. Clark was announced as the winner during the live final, after which he broke down into tears.

=== Channel 5 (2013–2018) === On 14 May 2013, as part of a revamp by Channel 5, Clark and AJ Odudu were announced as the new co-hosts of Big Brother's Bit on the Side, replacing Jamie East and Alice Levine. Emma Willis replaced Brian Dowling as host of Big Brother. In the 2015 series of Celebrity Big Brother UK vs USA, he also presented Bit on the Side on the weekends. For this series, the programme was renamed Bit on the State Side and filmed in an American-style studio. He presented Big Brother's Bit on the Side until the series was cancelled by Channel 5 in 2018. In October 2015, Clark co-presented a special edition of Most Haunted Live with Jamie East on Really. In May 2016, he presented his own prime time chat show for Channel 5 called Up Late with Rylan. The show ended after one series.