It’s been a whole decade since a blonde extension-wearing Rylan Clark first popped up on our screens proclaiming he was going to be the “male Lady Gaga” as he tried out for The X Factor.
Few could have predicted that from there, he would go on to become not just one of the nation’s most in demand TV presenters, but a full-blown national treasure.
After winning Celebrity Big Brother in 2013, Rylan has hosted the likes of Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, Strictly: It Takes Two, This Morning, The Xtra Factor, Supermarket Sweep and Ready Steady Cook, as well as fronting his own Radio 2 slot, covering the Eurovision semi finals, teaming up with his mum on Celebrity Gogglebox and publishing two books.
What’s more is that – despite his huge success – he remains one of the nicest blokes in the business.
In homage to the beloved star, here’s a look back at just some of his most iconic moments...
1. When he auditioned for The X Factor and proved that while he may not have had the best voice, he certainly had star quality
2. When he found out he was through to the Live Shows and served up a moment that still lives rent free in our heads
3. When Rylan had one too many wines when he attended the TV Choice awards with the This Morning gang
4. When he met former First Lady and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton on This Morning, and referred to her as “Hils babe”
5. When he absolutely lost it after finding a snake in his house and documented the whole hilarious incident on Instagram
6. When all his Steps dreams came true as he got to perform Tragedy in front of Claire Richards in the Celebrity Big Brother house
7. When This Morning sent him and Alison Hammond to go through a spooky maze, with ear-piercing results
8. When he met one of his heroes, Charity Shop Sue, during his Radio 2 KaRYoke Challenge
9. When he served this up to the Great British Bake Off judges
10. When he ripped into the government during an appearance on The Last Leg
11. When he got in a Twitter spat with Edwina Currie over the partygate scandal
12. When he hit back at ‘snobby-arsed’ critics of his political commentary
“I decided to call them out on it thinking actually, you’re a fucking idiot, because I was a 30-year-old man who’s not in politics and I’m the sort of person you should be tapping into.With all due respect, the audience that I’ve got might not necessarily understand Brexit or what’s going on in parliament.When I explain stuff on Twitter in layman’s terms people message me and go ‘Thanks for doing that, I didn’t really understand what WTO meant or what the Northern Irish backstop involved’.You can take the piss out of me all you want, but I’m probably informing the people who follow me more than you’re informing people."”
- Rylan, speaking to The Big Issue