'The Beast' Had To Turn Down 'I'm A Celeb' Because Of His One Weakness

It'd be pretty odd to see any of the 'chasers' from The Chase on any programme other than the one they're famous for.

In all honesty none of us really want to see them doing anything other than being cocky, stood at the top of a podium, answering questions. Unless, of course, they raid BBC's studios, holding Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osman in ransom, sparking the beginning of The Great Quiz Show War.

Despite this, 'The Beast', Mark Labbett, has appeared elsewhere. He once competed on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, walking away with a tidy £32 grand.

He glides through the opening questions, though did have to use his first lifeline at the £2,000 question.

'The Beast' was very apologetic to Chris Tarrant when he fails to answer a question correctly, but he'd already won a minimum of 32 grand, so it didn't really matter.

And there was no one there coughing away to help him - so well done.

He was also offered the chance to appear on another show - ITV's immensely popular I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out of Here.

Though you could imagine he'd be the type to enter the camp and have you thinking, 'Yeah, he's not that bad. In fact, he's great', it wasn't to be.

He had to turn down the opportunity because of his weight.

"I've been asked to do the jungle but the base calorie intake is about 700 calories. Look at me!," Labbett told the Mirror. "If I survived a week in there I'd probably drop three stone and cannibalism would maybe on the cards."

He certainly isn't creepy enough to be a cannibal, like Hannibal Lecter, but if he did threaten to eat you, you'd probably be scared.

An epic final chase from 'The Beast'. Credit: ITV

It turns out as well that his producers prefer him to be of a certain weight to maintain his 'Beast' reputation. Preston Lacey, a mainstay of the cast of Jackass, was given similar guidelines, as director Jeff Tremaine told him if he dropped below a certain weight he'd be fired.

"Does The Chase need me big? Put it this way, whenever I start losing weight because I'm doing a fitness kick or whatever, the producers go past me and hand me a second portion of pudding," he told the Mirror. "

I think we're all there with him, to be honest. If there's any sniff of food, we all turn into sewer rats, swarming upon crumbs of discarded biscuits.

Topics: the chase, I'm a celeb

Mark McGowan

Mark is a journalist at LADbible, who joined in 2015 after a year as a freelance writer. In the past he blogged for independent football fan channel Redmen TV, after graduating from Staffordshire University with degrees in journalism and English literature. He has worked on campaigns such as UOKM8? and IIOC.