Children in Need presenter Rylan Clark has confessed he left his team ‘panicking’ after making the sudden decision to leave the UK on his own after going through a very tough time.
Rylan Clark has admitted he ignored worries from his colleagues after making a spontaneous decision to flee the UK in the aftermath of his heartbreaking divorce from Dan Neal.
The BBC Children in Need presenter recalls switching off his phone and jumping on a plane to Barcelona by himself before opting to adopt a fake identity when introducing himself to strangers in the Spanish capital city.
Rylan made the confession while chatting to Alan Carr on his Life’s A Beach Podcast. The comedian asked whether the former X Factor star had ever travelled alone, prompting him to share: “I did it once. I went to Barcelona, alright. And I just went for three days and I said to my team, ‘Right, guys, I’m going away for 3 days.’
“They had a panic attack and were like, ‘No, absolutely not. Not going anywhere on your own.’ I said, ‘I’m going’, just turned the phone off and went.”
The trip came after Rylan suffered a breakdown in 2021 when his six-year marriage to Dan ended, which led to him taking months off from his TV and radio commitments while he focused on his mental health.
He continued: “And I went to Barcelona, I just stayed in this nice little hotel and it’s the first time I’ve ever done that, you know, like eating on your own. So I take the iPad, make out I was working like a businessman.
“Anyway, I started speaking to some bloke in the hotel. His flight got put back two days and he was out there, he was Canadian or American. He was out there visiting some friends and he was like, ‘Oh, you’re on your own.’ I was like, ‘Yeah, yeah, you’re on your own.’ Anyway, started talking to him and he went, ‘What’s your name?’ And I went, ‘Josh.’ I just lied. I thought, we’re not going to play this card.
“And he went, ‘What do you do then?’ And obviously I was going through my divorce. I was like, ‘I’m a family lawyer.’ And he went, ‘Oh, right.’
“So I started speaking to this guy and for the next two days, we then started, for the next two nights, I met up with him and his friends and it was all quite nice and whatever and they were like, ‘Oh, Josh, you’re so lovely.’ And I’m like, ‘I’m just such a nice guy.’ And I’m like, ‘Don’t ask me for legal f***ing ideas.'”
Rylan was ultimately caught out when he bumped into a group of girls from the UK, who were in Barcelona for a hen do, towards the end of his holiday, and they recognised him instantly.
He explained: “And then on the last night I was like, ‘Okay, cool. Yeah, let’s all go out.’ and they’ve been calling me Josh and I thought, it’s been so nice not being Rylan. And then all of a sudden, ‘oh my God Rylan!’ F***ing hen party!
“All the new friends are in front of me calling me Josh and I just go… and they’re like, ‘are they, Josh, are they shouting at you?’ and I was like I was like ‘no, no’, and they were like, ‘Rylan, Rylan, I can’t f***ing believe it. My husband to be looks like you’.
“And I just went, ‘Hi, girls.’ Like that. And they were like, ‘Oh, can we have a photo?’ And all these like American/Canadians are like, ‘What?'”
After leaving podcast host Alan in fits of giggles over the awkward situation, Rylan said his new friends thankfully “did find it funny in the end, and they understood why I lied”.
Following his tumultuous divorce, Rylan is now in a happy relationship with Kennedy Bates, whom he started dating last year.
Children in Need airs from 7pm on Friday November 13 on BBC One and iPlayer.
Ensure our latest Celebrity News headlines always appear at the top of your Google Search by making us a Preferred Source. Click here to activate or add us as Preferred Source in your Google search settings.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: mirror.co.uk
