Rylan Clark says showbiz is 'full of a***holes' - and shares biggest regret before getting famous

When referred to as a national treasure, Rylan Clark responds with a grin that could be seen from space, "I'm a regional trinket! ", he chuckles.

He's downplaying his achievements, which is not something we usually associate with Rylan, 35, who is known for his candid honesty and straight-talking approach. Cheers to that!

In an interview with the Mirror, Rylan Clark has described the entertainment industry as being 'full of a***holes', and shared some regrets from his early career. "I was very cheap in the early days," he admits. "Not so much now!"

That's putting it mildly. He's journeyed from a childhood with his single mum Linda in a Borehamwood council house to the Celebrity Big Brother house just down the road - via The X Factor.

Although he didn't win X Factor, finishing fifth, a decade later, boosted by his Celebrity Big Brother victory in 2013, who could argue that he doesn't have the X Factor in abundance? However, Rylan has succeeded in an industry he describes as "full of a***holes".

"Like, full of entitled people that believe that they are something special, and that they can talk to people like sh*t, and that they can get away with it. And subsequently do get away with it," he explains.

"Going into that industry at 23 when I was on X Factor I learned that the hard way by seeing how people would treat me, a reality contestant. 'He's not going to be about in two weeks, I don't need to make the effort to him'..."

But now the tables have turned and he's interviewing them. Rylan today is one of the most in demand presenters on TV, trusted with everything from This Morning to Supermarket Sweep to the Mamma Mia dating show.

And when he had his breakdown following his divorce from Dan Neale in 2021, he had every TV boss willing to wait for his recovery. So regional trinket? No, not really. But Working Class Hero can be added to the list.

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Rylan is dishing out advice at an event organised by The 93% Club, which gets its name from a sad and damning statistic: 93% of people went to state schools in the UK yet they occupy a much smaller percentage of the nation's top roles.Just 34% of FTSE 350 CEOs, 35% of senior judges, 43% of the House of Lords, 56% of journalists - and it's got Rylan fired up.

He may be a telly superstar now but even he has been there - Boris Johnson's team once refused to do an interview with him, after he was a last minute replacement for the original interviewer. He won't forget it.

"Don't let anyone else sit there and say to you, you shouldn't be sat around this meeting table because you didn't go to Eton, because you went to a state school in Dagenham," he says.

"Don't let Boris Johnson's team say to you, you're not qualified to interview the future Prime Minister, when eight years down the line, I'm the one still doing my job and you're not!"

That's socking it to the blond bluffer.

"I personally don't believe in the political parties anymore," Rylan declares. "I don't think that's how it should be done ... Next year I will be running! Free veneers for everyone! And on Wednesdays we wear pink!"

While we suspect he's jesting, he still gets our vote. Rylan's audacious defiance of the establishment didn't stem from his meteoric rise to stardom. It was nurtured much closer to home.

"Growing up in a single parent family, not having... I don't like to say we were on the breadline, because we weren't... but not having loads, like a lot of people did, that's instilled into me that I'm lucky to be doing the job that I'm doing," he reflects. "I was just thrown on to live TV, it's all I've ever known, and I ended up being quite good at it."

For him, success is primarily about financial security. A secure future for him and his mum.

"I never intended what happened for me, to happen. I'll tell you the Gods honest truth, the reason I went on X Factor was my car just broke down, right? Patsy the Peugeot, long may she rest."

"I thought, if I could go on that show, last one week of live shows, get a couple of gigs in some gay clubs, earn about 20 grand, I'll be able to get a new Patsy, buy my mum a new front door, and might be able to start renting somewhere on my own as I was still living with my mum at the time."

"Well I've built three houses and now I drive a Range Rover so f**k them, I've done alright! "

Rylan often ponders that what came easily could also disappear just as quickly, saying: "I don't know tomorrow, but if it all flies away, I've got them two houses. That is the worst case scenario - living with my mum again."

He attributes his success to Linda and the public's support. "If I'm walking about and someone asks for a photo I will always stop because my whole life was a public vote at one point. If it weren't for the public, I wouldn't be doing what I'm doing in the first place."

Rylan dreams of seeing more working-class individuals like himself making it big. He has no intention of pulling up the ladder now that he's made it.

"This might sound dodgy, but my ladder is always out!" he chuckles.

His advice to aspirants, besides starting cheap and not being an a***hole since there are already plenty, is to treat everyone with respect: Give everyone a chance because that person who you might think will just be a flash in the pan, could potentially be the most influential person in the world in two weeks time!"

And whatever your goal may be, "unless you put yourself forward for it, you're definitely not going to get it - it's that simple and you have nothing to lose." But Rylan acknowledges that timing played a crucial role in his success.

"I was very, very lucky that I was on X Factor at a time that it did still make people. And celebrity in those days was a lot more of a currency than what it is nowadays."

Rylan Clark-Neal, the celebrity, reflected: "[Now] anyone can be famous by taking their phone and saying the right or wrong thing. And then we all know about it. We all know that you can be in someone's living room 24/7 just by holding your palm up, whereas in those days you couldn't.."

Mimicking taking a selfie, he exclaimed, "I hate nothing more than doing this!" Can it be true? Rylan Clark-Neal despising selfies?

He confessed that he still yearns for the time when he was an unknown, gawky 18-year-old ginger. "Anonymity. That's the main thing I miss from my old life," he shared.

In a self-deprecating tone, he added, "I'm 20 foot tall with the biggest teeth in Britain. I wish, I wish I'd made the most of my old life. Going out, getting trashed and rolling home somewhere, in a wheelbarrow, you know, doing all of those things, without responsibilities."

The star also opened up about his personal struggles, particularly his emotional breakdown in 2021, following his separation from husband Dan after six years together.

"It was a combination of my marriage breaking down, and actually stopping to realise the success that you've made," he says.

Speaking on his low moments, he confessed, "When I say I hit rock bottom, I was very much the worst place any person could be. There was no more down to get. And actually, looking back, a lot of that is because I didn't acknowledge and celebrate the small wins."

Despite his past relationship hurdles, he remains hopeful about love, envisaging a happy marriage and kids someday. "Who knows what the future holds? " he mused.

"In my 20s, I did everything. I got success in my 20s, I got married in my 20s, I thought I was taking over the world in my 20s. And then I hit 30. And everything changed in my head."

"There's this mental thing where you go, I'm not in my 20s no more, f**k,what's going on? ! My 30s have been 10 times more rewarding than my 20s. The older you get, the more you start to know about yourself. And...we don';t sweat the smallstuff."

"In my 20s I was so concerned about looking a certain way and what people think of me. In my 40s I'm going to be a horrible bastard. In my 50s, woah!"

A scary new Rylan for PM? Oof. We've been warned....

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