This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.
What’s the view from your sofa?
There’s a big TV and a fireplace, plus shelves full of things I’ve got, or robbed, from places I’ve been. A beautiful bronze statue that Rob Rinder gave me when we filmed Passage to India, my light-up cup from when I was in Doctor Who, glass trophies from every Eurovision I’ve worked on and a couple of invitations I’ve had to Buckingham Palace. On another shelf I have my nan’s ashes in a glass, and next to her is my Bafta award.
What was it like meeting the King and Queen?
They both have a great sense of humour. I’ve met Camilla a couple of times, and she’s always been funny and lovely. When I first met the King, he made a little joke with me. When I met him again a few months later, he brought up the same subject, and my punchline was, “No, I wasn’t well behaved.” He really laughed, and I realised in that moment, “You’re funny!”
Who controls the remote at home?
It’s me, unless my mum [Linda] turns up, then there’s no hope. The soaps go on, and I sit there saying, “Why don’t you go to your own house and watch Emmerdale?” It’s classic Linda.
When Linda goes home, what programmes do you watch?
Something a bit dystopian, like The Hunger Games, where weird things are going on, and I’m trying to work it out. But if I want something funny, it’s old-school stuff like Keeping Up Appearances and Ab Fab. So it’s dystopian on one side, belly laughs on the other.
It’s been 14 years since your X Factor debut – when did you realise you could build a proper career in television?
The first time was when I started hosting duties on Big Brother’s Bit on the Side, and then when I joined Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. I thought, “Hmm, maybe I’m not just a chancer, turning up and hoping for the best.” And winning the Bafta [with Rinder for Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour] was a solid, heavy reminder to myself: “You’ve done all right.”
Your TV partnership with Rob Rinder has blossomed. What have you taught each other?
I hate the term “chalk and cheese”, but we are opposites. He’s up at 4am and I’m saying, “Stay away until I’ve had my coffee.” But we’ve got this far without killing each other. We find the same things funny and see the best in people. I’ve taught him how to have fun, and he’s taught me how to nap.
You’ve said before that you’re “Rylan” on TV and radio, but still Ross Clark at home. How has that changed over the years?
I’ve become more myself as time’s gone on. I feel very loose on the radio, but I’m a bit more controlled on TV. I’ve definitely moulded and shaped my on-air persona more into Ross over the years, which is probably good for my mental health, to have the feeling I don’t always have to perform. Sometimes you can just say, “Oh no, it’s raining.” It’s nice to be normal.
Have you become softer or tougher in that time?
If people want to call me a terrible presenter, or say my teeth are too white, that’s when I’m tough, I really don’t care. But if they attack my character, that’s when I get hurt. So it’s both. But if I’m on a soap box, I won’t shut up about it. I’ll be at Speaker’s Corner, shouting, “Bring back Spice Girl Impulse.”
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