The Chase star Mark Labbett has undergone a hard-to-believe weight transformation, dropping more than 63kg and going from a size 5xl to 2xl. He was married to Kate Labbett and had a son before their divorce.
Affectionately labeled “The Beast”, English TV personality Mark Labbett won the hearts of many across the United States for his glaring intelligence, his quick wittiness, and his imposing size. As of 2003 when he was at his heaviest, he weighed 184 kg (406 pounds).
But while his viewers loved him just the way he was, the need arose for him to make some lifestyle changes that will help him shed some weight after he was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2016. Unfortunately, he had no option of doing it the easy through surgery so he had to work his way out of the chronic condition.
Thus far, he has done an amazing job with the support of his wife and family but according to him, he ‘still has work to do’ on his figure.
How Mark Labbett’s Weight Loss Journey Started
Mark Labbett’s weight loss journey all started after he was discovered that he had Type 2 diabetes in 2016. Following the diagnosis, he was advised to shed weight by reducing the quantity of sugar in his diet.
Although he might have opted for a gastric bypass or band surgery, Mirror reported that doctors told him it would not work in his case because being a self-confessed sweet and chocolate junkie, the sugar would go straight through it.
As revealed by the quizzer in a caption of one of his Instagram posts, he has made his overall health and fitness a priority since then and has “been on a real-life weight loss journey losing nearly 10 stones since my diagnosis.”
When Mark contracted the dreaded coronavirus in the summer of 2020, he shed even more weight as he lost appetite.
Mark Labbett’s Weight Loss Was By Eating Clean and Exercising
With the help of his wife, Katie, Mark made wise choices about his diet and began hitting the gym. In six months, he reportedly lost four inches from his chest and six inches off his belly. The Beast was so elated at the result that he took to Twitter to gush about his impressive weight loss in February 2018.
In November 2021, he appeared on ITV’s The Pet Show where he revealed that he lost a lot of weight with the help of his Golden Retriever, named Baloo. According to him, the dog, who he calls his “personal trainer”, motivated him to stay fit by getting him to form a habit of exercising regularly.
Speaking with hosts Dermot O’Leary and Joanna Page, he disclosed that his wife promised him that when they got the dog, she would re responsible for feeding him, walking him, and everything else.
However, she was only able to keep to her promise for two weeks before before she convinced Mark to take over walking him, telling him that he needed the exercise to reduce his belly. “I was walking him around the fields, taking me places… I think he’s helped a lot, simply because I’m doing more activity.”
Since he recovered from coronavirus, The Beast has increased his exercise regime. He gyms, walks and eats only two meals each day, according to The Sun. He told the tabloid newspaper in March 2021 that sugar had always been his sin and that was why he never considered a gastric band.
Not wanting to die early like most sumo wrestlers his size, Mark knew he had to make a change. “The more sugar you have, the more you want,’ he said, adding that he has now reduced his sugar intake and hardly gets very hungry anymore.
He also revealed that he usually skips lunch when he’s filming or takes a muffin or two, but always tries to eat a decent, cooked breakfast. And then at night, he is often too tired to eat and so he just sleeps off without eating. ‘It works for me,” he added.
How Much Was Mark Labbett’s Weightloss?
In March 2021,The Sun reported that Mark Labbett has lost 63.5 kg, that’s about 117 kg less than he weighed at his heaviest (184 kg) in 2003.
In January 2022, The Chase star showed off the amazing results of his hard work, posing shirtless in front of a mirror as he took a selfie. He shared the picture on Twitter as seen below:
52 inch chest so down from 5xl to 2xl, still work to do…..xl or bust 🙂 pic.twitter.com/gulHmlaYEq
— Mark Labbett (@MarkLabbett) January 26, 2022
How Mark Labbett Became Famous
Mark Labbett as a School Teacher
Prior to his participation in The Chase as a star quizzer, he was a secondary school teacher. He taught in South Wales’ Caldicot Comprehensive and worked as a supply teacher in Maths and physical education at Cove School in Farnborough.
Quizzing
As a teacher, Mark Labbett also worked at Butlins holiday camp and supplemented his income with winnings from the quiz machines. With regular wins, he became interested in quizzing and decided to take a plunge. He started appearing in TV game and quiz shows in the late 1990s, becoming a regular in quizzing competitions and TV quiz shows. In 1999 and 2000, he was on the British game show, Mastermind where his special subjects were the Olympics and The Simpsons respectively.
The Big Win
Since then, he has appeared and contested in numerous shows including Countdown (2000), Grand Slam (2003), the Channel 5 show Brain Teaser where he won $500 in 2004. In 2005, he won a whopping £1,500 on BBC One’s SUDO-Q and has not slowed down a bit.
One of Labbett’s high moments came in 2005. That year he participated in the live version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? Millionaire Live and won the prize money of £32,000. He later made appearances in The National Lottery People’s Quiz (2007) where he finished in second place, University Challenge, Are You an Egghead? (2008), Tipping Point: Lucky Stars (2016), and Celebrity Juice (2017).
Mark Labbett’s Other Feats
Asides individual performances and victories on the numerous shows Labbett has contested in, he has also racked in wins with others either as part of a team or a leader. In April 2001, he competed and won a weekend in Paris along with his pub team in Jumbo Quiz. That year, he led the Welsh quiz team in 2006 to the European Quizzing Championships where they finished in the fifth place. And in 2009, his team, the Rugby Boys won Only Connect, a BBC Four’s game show.
Mark Labbett has garnered worldwide prominence for simply being a genius and as such was nicknamed the Brain Box. He has also received several mentions and accolades such as ranking 17th top quizzer in the country in 2007 and 5 years later, the 81st in the World Quizzing Championships. However, the sun was only rising for the quizzer.
The Chase
Fame came calling in 2009 when he first appeared on the ITV game show The Chase (hosted by Bradley Walsh) as a Chaser (i.e. a quiz show master). He has since appeared on the U.S. version of the show from 2013 to 2015 and has been one of the five chasers on the Australian version of the show since 2016.
Viewers consider Mark Labbett as a beast on the show as his quick wittiness and tricks are geared to keep them from the prize. But isn’t that why he is on the show as a chaser? To prevent contestants from winning a cash prize. Plus, as a teacher for 15 years, Labbett knows how to treat a badly behaved student thus, his nice display on the show could be attributed to his classroom days.
Asides The Chase, Labbett also participated in another ITV series titled Sugar Free Farm in 2016. On the show (which involves celebrities taking on a sugar-free diet), he revealed he has false top teeth from consuming too much sugar. A big fan of pro wrestling, Mark became a producer for Hull-based wrestling promotion, New Generation Wrestling (NGW), in 2016. Away from his on-screen life, let’s reveal more details about Mark Labbett — the husband and father.
Who is Mark Labbett’s Ex-Wife?
Mark Labbett was married to Katie Labbett for seven years before they parted ways. Known by “Beauty” in reference to Mark’s nickname, “The Beast, Katie is 27 years his junior. She works as an artist and illustrator. As per the records, she is her ex-husband’s second cousin; a fact the duo said they were unaware of when they first met.
They tied the knot at Arundel Cathedral, West Sussex, England in October 2014but sadly announced the end of their union on the 29th of August 2020. The duo agreed to part ways after Kate cheated with another man. Speculations began to make the rounds after pieces of evidence pointing to Katie’s unfaithfulness appeared in pictures on the Facebook page of a certain Scott.
Does Mark Labbett Have Children?
Together, the now-former couple, Mark and Katie, have a son who they are keen on keeping away from the spotlight.
As reported on Express, Mark said, “You won’t find a pic of our son, nor am I gonna name him.” He further explained that the boy is free to be on social media when he is older but that he (Mark) will not do it for him.
