Inside The Chase star Mark Labbett's marriage to cousin and heartbreaking split

The Chase legend Mark Labbett stands as one of television's most formidable quiz champions - renowned for his role as The Beast. The brilliant quizmaster rapidly ascended to become amongst the toughest chasers to defeat on the ITV show. He's celebrated for his appearances alongside Bradley Walsh and fellow chasers, though Mark has also ventured onto various quiz programmes across the globe. The quizmaster will mark a major milestone today (August 15) as he celebrates his 60th birthday. Express.co.uk takes an inside look into his love life as he is now appearing on the reality series Celebs Go Dating.

The mastermind has attempted to shield his romantic affairs and domestic challenges from public scrutiny over the years, yet his unconventional marriage to former wife and relative Katie Labbett has nonetheless featured prominently in numerous publications and online platforms. During their initial joint appearances, the pair seemed deeply smitten despite the considerable age gap separating them. Regrettably, Mark revealed he was parting ways with Katie, 33, in August 2020, following five years of matrimony.

The pair initially connected in 2010 through Facebook, and in an extraordinary turn of events, only realised their family connection after exchanging vows.

It emerged that Mark and Katie's fathers are first cousins, rendering the former spouses second cousins.

Mark addressed this discovery in multiple interviews, clarifying that neither he nor Katie had been aware of their blood relation before developing feelings for one another.

"It wasn't something we were aware of at the time - it was one of those things that happened," he said. For a period the pair lived blissfully - Katie welcomed their son and they were frequently seen beaming and clasping hands on the red carpet.

However, when Mark uncovered that Katie had begun a clandestine affair with design engineer Scott Bate, rather than ending things with his spouse he consented to attempting an open marriage.

"When Katie first came clean to me about her boyfriend, I'd had an inkling," the quizzer told The Sun at the time.

"But right from the start, my attitude was quite pragmatic - this was spilled milk, what could we do about the situation to make it OK? We had a family. We couldn't just throw that away lightly. There were other considerations," Mark shared.

Despite his frantic efforts to preserve their family unit, the pair agreed to divorce in 2020, with Mark declaring that the coronavirus pandemic had created a "perfect storm" to terminate their relationship.

Despite his marriage breakdown, Mark channelled his energy into shedding weight and dropped over five stone following a frightening coronavirus episode last year.

Successfully reducing his weight to 22 stone, Mark attributes his other motivations to a serious warning from medics after he reached 27 stone on the scales.

Discussing his transformation and health struggles, the chaser revealed: "I had a complete loss of appetite, no sense of smell, a temperature, exhaustion and the worst fever of my life.

"I basically didn't eat for two weeks but since then the weight has continued to drop off because I have continued to eat sensibly. I knew I had to," he told The Sun.

Mark is currently taking part in the reality series Celebs Go Dating in the hopes of finding love.