The Chase's Mark Labbett, who is nicknamed The Beast on the ITV quiz show, has floored fans after sharing a festive snap on Twitter. The television star posted a picture of himself backstage at the Northwich pantomime Jack and the Beanstalk.
Mark, who is playing the villain Fleshcreep in the show, shared an image of himself holding up the board game version of Pointless, The Chase's rival quiz show, and captioned it: "This was my secret Santa at the Northwich Panto. I suspect Richard Osman."
Mark looked very different to how The Chase fans are used to seeing him and his tweet got lots of reaction and hundreds of comments from fans. Complimenting Mark, one fan wrote: "Almost didn’t recognise you, really smashed the weight loss." While another added: "Holy Moly Mark! I didn’t recognise you!"
"Bloody hell, actually didn’t think that was you and thought it was possibly your son or a relative lol," commented a third. "Just got to say this you look absolutely amazing," wrote a fourth. "Way to go with losing so much weight. Have a fabulous Christmas."
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Mark has been open about his weight loss over the last few years after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in 2017 and overhauling his lifestyle. More recently he spoke about his journey on ITV's Loose Women.
"I'm down to 21 stone now - I was 29 stone, 2lbs at my heaviest," he told the panel on the daytime television show in November.
He said: "I think my diabetes meds help because I eat so much less. I drink fluids a lot more than I used to. Looking after a five-year-old in lockdown really didn't help as well. It was lovely. My wife was working as a nurse at the time so she was doing her bit. And my bit was to look after him, but the number of times I collapsed in a heap. Plus I'm so busy these days. I've got two free days off in December from the panto and then I'm going to collapse in a heap in January."
Mark also opened up about his weight loss journey at the start of the year, telling his followers he had slimmed down three clothing sizes from a 5XL to a 2XL. Sharing a topless selfie in January, he wrote: "Down to 52 inch chest from 60”. So was 5xl, now 2xl. Still a lot of work to do."
And Mark isn't the only Chaser to leave viewers stunned over the festive period. Jenny Ryan, known as the Vixen, sent fans wild as she ditched her iconic cat eye glasses and wore her red tresses in a sleek updo in a totally different look for the Christmas special of The Chase.
Even host Bradley Walsh was floored by the transformation as he asked: "And you are? You look so different without your glasses. You look great."
Fans loved the glamorous look, as one wrote: "Wow Jenny looks stunning," while another added: "Jenny looking fabulous." For more showbiz and television stories get our newsletter here.
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