Former Apprentice star Ryan-Mark Parsons has told how coming out as gay during the BBC1 show was “the biggest nightmare” of his life.
Brave Ryan-Mark, 21 – the youngest contestant in the show’s history – revealed his family found out about his sexuality after gossip between fellow contestants got back to her before he had a chance to tell them.
In an exclusive interview he told how the ordeal “traumatised” his family, left him with trust issues and led to some relatives cutting him out completely.
Speaking about it for the first time, Ryan-Mark, who was only 19 when he appeared on the Apprentice in 2020, said: “I’ve known I was gay since I was 15 but I had only told my closest friends and certainly not my immediate family.
“We were sitting in the Apprentice house’s cinema room in between tasks one day and we were all discussing our relationships and who we dated. I just told them straight, ‘I’m gay’. A few people were surprised. Others weren’t.
“I thought it was in confidence and forgot about it. When the show aired it became apparent that my personal information had spread and somehow my family had found out before I could tell them myself I was gay. It was the biggest nightmare you can imagine. It was so tough for both my family and I. I’m still not over it.”
He added: “I don’t blame the Apprentice producers as they were great and offered me psychological support. But there were 12 people in the room when I told them and there are about six that couldn’t stand me so they are probably the ones I suspect of leaking it. I blame one of them.
“The whole thing left me feeling despondent, deflated and it left me and my family traumatised.”
Today Ryan-Mark, who is currently starring on E4’s Celeb’s Go Dating, has told how the trauma left him suspecting even his best friends on the BBC1 show and has left a bitter rift with part of his family who he claims have struggled to come to terms he is gay.
Ryan-Mark appeared on the Apprentice in 2020 – a controversial series which saw the show embroiled in a race row involving contestant Lottie Lion.
She allegedly told 33-year-old Lubna Farhan "shut up Gandhi" and "I'll f*** you up" in a WhatsApp conversation.
Viewers watched as Ryan-Mark, who described himself as a “60-year-old trapped inside a teenager’s body”, came ninth to eventual winner Artisan baker Carina Lepore.
Ryan-Mark had been working at in the Gucci store at Harrods before appearing on the show.
He said: “It was very full on and we barely had any downtime. But when we did, we often went to the cinema in the house. We’d been together all the time, living together, eating together, filming together and I trusted them even though we didn’t all get on.
“It was on a rare occasion when we were allowed to watch TV in the house because we were so busy and we were talking about relationships. I trusted people in there so I told them about my sexuality. I’m quite a closed person and have never shouted about being gay from the rooftop. A select bunch of people knew and I always wanted to tell people on my own terms.
“After that people seemed okay with it. Someone might say when we were watching TV, ‘Oh, do you fancy that person Ryan-Mark?’ My good friend Thomas Skinner on the show bantered with me about me being gay and I just said he was fat or pathetic in return. It was all good fun. Nothing offends me, I was fine at the time.
“In hindsight, my series was the leakiest cast ever. They were splashed all over the front pages. There were official investigations by the BBC into racist allegations. Retrospectively, I should’ve kept my mouth shut but still, it was very personal to me.”
But it was when the show aired later that year that Ryan-Mark’s worst fears were confirmed.
He said: “I remember calling my mum up one day and I could just tell something was wrong. She was distant and was giving me short answers. We are so close and I quickly realised that what I had said in confidence on the show have filtered out through social media to my family. They knew I was gay before I had a chance to tell them on my own terms.
“My family are from South East London and are staunch Roman Catholics. I went round to see her and I wasn’t going to deny it. My mum is a wonderful woman and I love her to bits and it was not the way I wanted her to find out. I wanted to do it on my own terms, instead I believe someone on the show blabbed it to someone.
"It was quite traumatic really. Most people have a party when they come out or at least get a pat on the back, but because my family heard it from someone else and not me thanks to one of the other contestants, my family were in shock. I think she thought it might have been a faze and was probably slightly in denial initially.”
And worse was still to come. Ryan-Mark’s family in Ireland had also heard about his sexuality and he claims immediately cut ties.
He said: “My family in Ireland have completely cut ties with me. They were rooting for me on the Apprentice and I heard they were supportive but that all stopped. My grandmother used to send me birthday cards, Christmas cards but that suddenly ended. I’ve had nothing for two years.
“I think me being gay may have made them feel uncomfortable. I even got a message recently from someone I think was from that side of the family saying, ‘you deserted us’. That was very hurtful.”
He said that some male friends he had also gone to school stopped answering his messages after his news was revealed.
He said: “After that I trusted no one, I suspected everyone, even my friend Thomas Skinner. It gave me huge trust issues. We had a WhatsApp group and I would have launched an inquiry on there but that was disbanded because of the racism investigation.”
Ryan-Mark said his trust issues have even filtered into his love-life – adding that he has struggled to find a partner.
Fans of Channel 4 ’s Celebs Go Dating have seen Ryan-Mark encounter a series of nightmare dates – one disastrous one when he spent a day on a farm with a farmer called James.
He said: “I come across to some people as rude and brash but I’m not always like that. I have a softer side. What happened on the Apprentice has meant I can’t trust anyone yet. I’m always fearing the worst. I’m hoping Celebs Go Dating may turn around my fortunes.
“But I have had some absolutely disastrous dates. On one date in the South of France, I went on a banana boat and was thrown off into a school of jellyfish. They stung me all over and I was screaming. I have a real phobia of them anyway and had to go to hospital. On another date, someone threw food over my head because I said the wrong thing. I think I can rub people up the wrong way sometimes.”
Despite his ordeal and his annoyance towards the mystery contestant who gossiped about his sexuality, Ryan-Mark has no hard feelings towards the makers of the Apprentice.
But he admitted he isn’t watching the current series.
He said: “To be honest, I still get on really well with Lord Sugar and have great friends among the producers. It’s the contestant who broke my trust who I have a problem with. I guess I’ll never find out. It has left me with some lingering trust issues I still haven’t been able to shake though.”
