Yahoo News The Chase's Mark Labbett reveals plans for the future on Loose Women
ITV Chaser Mark 'The Beast' Labbett says he hopes to keep going on the popular quiz show "until I'm 80" - as The Chase prepares to celebrate its milestone 15th anniversary.
The show first aired in June 2009, with Mark and his fellow Chaser, Shaun Wallace - aka the Dark Destroyer - having taken part since the first series.
The 58-year-old quizmaster, who was born in Tiverton, and went on to study at University of Exeter, has become a familiar face, also featuring on various spin-offs such as The Chase: Celebrity Specials, Beat The Chasers, and international versions in the USA and Australia.
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And as Mark appeared on Loose Women alongside his girlfriend Hayley Palmer, conversation naturally turned to The Chase, reports the Mirror.
Discussing the longevity of the show, he said: "I've been doing it for 15 years now, we've got a 15th anniversary special which will be shown later on this summer. Shaun [Wallace] and I have been there since the start, and Bradley [Walsh]."
"We're just part of the furniture, we appreciate it. I'm lucky, I reckon I can probably keep going until I'm 75, 80 in this job, if I keep myself fit."
Elsewhere in the segment, the happy couple discussed another important anniversary - the upcoming milestone of 12 months since they first started dating.
When asked about their relationship over the past year, Hayley playfully interjected with: "Say the right answer!", prompting Mark to jest: "The secret to a happy relationship? Yes dear!"
He elaborated on their long-distance relationship, saying: "Because we live quite a bit apart, obviously I live up by Sheffield and she's a Chelsea girl, we tend to look at our diaries and when we can sync up together. The good news is we see each other every few weeks, but we make the most of it when we're together, so you get the best of both worlds."
Hayley chimed in: "We get excited when we see each other, which is really nice."
Discussing their anniversary plans, Hayley revealed: "We're actually going... it might be quite sad to some people, but to us it's really special. We're going back to the bench, we sat on this bench on a beach a year ago and it's where we first thought actually, this could be something."
This comes after Mark reminisced about how the couple first met at the National Television Awards two years ago. His agent had jokingly mentioned that he had secured the quizzer a Toby Carvery gold card in front of her, which sparked a connection between them - and after one date, they were both certain they wanted to pursue a relationship.
