The Chase Star Opens Up On Split From Ex-Wife Who Is His Second Cousin

The 56 year-old got married to Katie, who works as a nurse, back in October 2014 - despite them actually being related due to their dads being first cousins.

This makes the ex-couple couple second cousins, although both have always insisted that they had no idea they were related until after their wedding.

The pair went on to have a son, Lawrence, but the 27-year age gap between them, Covid-19 lockdowns and an open marriage eventually took its toll.

"I promised to look after her and I promised to look after my kid."

The pair first met via Facebook in 2010 - with Katie claiming at the time that she had no idea Mark was a TV star.

"I had never heard of Mark, or watched The Chase, but my gran mentioned him so I was intrigued," she said.

Not long prior to their split, Mark addressed the fact that they were second cousins during an appearance on Loose Women, saying: "It wasn't something we were aware of at the time - it was one of those things that happened.

"I had been a single man for a long while so I was getting used to the idea of being on my own. Especially as a bachelor, we can get pretty selfish, you get used to doing what you want to do all of the time.

The star added: "As a couple of my friends pointed out the big challenge for me is learning to adapt with being with someone else."

Elsewhere in his latest interview with The Sun, he revealed how he attracts a lot of attention at public appearances - explaining how he has to tell 'young ladies who are only 19 or 20' to leave him alone at student gigs.

"I can safely say on any given gig I get my a**e felt up to four times," he said.

"Every gig I get sexually assaulted. The worst one, I was wearing jeans and the woman grabbed my meat and two veg through them.

"If I’d have done that to her I’d be in the cells," he added. "I felt violated."

The Beast has now hired a personal guard for public events as a result of the unwanted attention.

"I’ve got a guy I work with now and he keeps an eye for me and will detect when something like that is going to happen," he said.