Viewers were left surprised as they watched Mark Labbett on This Morning. The Chase star, also known as 'The Beast', appeared on the ITV daytime show to chat about his new book with hosts Alison Hammond and Dermot O'Leary.
As he chatted about Can You Beat the Beast?, the former maths teacher revealed that even he isn't always s top quizzer despite his appearance on the ITV quiz show and its spin-off, Beat The Chasers, reports Manchester Evening News.
Revealing how he sometimes guesses during his TV appearances, Mark told Alison and Dermot of the tips he has when they don't know an answer to a quiz question: "If they say what variety of a fruit is a 'bla bla bla', say apple because there are way more varieties of apples than anything else."
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"So you can guess?" Alison asked as Mark replied: "Yeah! I guess all the time. If they say who invented this word and it sounds vaguely old, go for Shakespeare. You'll see on The Chase how many times I say cheese or pasta because it's the default answer. It sounds Italian, pasta!"
And there was clearly some competitiveness brewing as Alison was keen to have a go at beating the chaser. She teamed up with Dermot as they went head-to-head with Mark as he read questions from the TV section of his book. The This Morning duo faced questions on Downton Abbey, The Simpsons and The Office and emerged victorious, getting every single one right with Mark impressed by their 'full house'.
"Did we beat you?" Alison asked, keenly, to which Mark reluctantly replied: "Yeah, you beat me." Celebrating, an elated Alison said: "Yes! We beat him! We beat The Chaser," embracing her co-star who then continued to sing and dance in jubilation.
But it wasn't Mark's slimmed-down appearance that caught This Morning viewers' attention. Mark has lost a staggering amount of weight over the last few years. The quiz star has managed to shed a whopping 10 stone, which he said was kick-started by the coronavirus lockdown.
He previously admitted he was 'on the verge of getting high blood pressure pills', according to The Express. But reckons it wasn't until lockdown that his weight loss became more dramatic. The father-of-one said: "Several factors came together nicely and the weight has just fallen off. The principal thing has been running after a hyperactive three-year-old in lockdown when the nurseries were shut. Instead of going to the fridge for a bit of late-night snacking all I could do was just collapse on a heap on the bed."
During his This Morning appearance, @DavidMackayy tweeted: "Wow!! Good on Mark, he looks sensational #thismorning." @Sundays_child__ shared: "Mark Labbett looks incredible after dropping off the weight. Watching his interview, he seems like such a lovely man #thismorning."
@Boppity_Boo34 posted: "Just turned over @MarkLabbett has lost some weight looking good #ThisMorning." @lulusnote added: "WOW! Doesn't he look different! #ThisMorning."
Reflecting on how his life has changed since becoming a chaser as he told the presenters: "13 years and I've gone from being a very overweight maths teacher who was going to be in the same room for the rest of his career to someone who has gone around the world, I have a lovely son now." He then added: "Who knew?"
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