The Chase fans stunned as Mark Labbett rekindles romance with famous presenter Hayley Palmer
Mark Labbett is back with Hayley Palmer
Mark Labbett and Hayley Palmer have surprised fans by rekindling their romance two years after a painful split, bringing the couple back into the spotlight.
The 61-year-old quizzer, better known to millions of viewers as The Beast on ITV’s The Chase, recently confirmed that he and 45-year-old Sky presenter Hayley are dating again.
The pair were pictured together at the 2026 National Television Awards, where they made a stylish appearance side by side. Their reunion comes after they first met at the same event in 2022 and began dating several months later.
The couple’s relationship has attracted plenty of attention because of their 16-year age gap, but it is their unexpected second chance at romance that has really caught The Chase fans off guard.
Mark has been a familiar face on British television since The Chase first arrived on ITV in 2009. Alongside Shaun Wallace, he was one of the show’s original Chasers, while Bradley Walsh has remained at the helm as presenter.
Known on the programme as The Beast, Mark has become one of the most recognisable quiz personalities on television. His long-running role on The Chase has also taken him into international versions of the format, including the American and Australian shows.
Away from the quiz board, however, it is his personal life that has recently given viewers something new to talk about.
Who is Hayley Palmer?
Hayley Palmer is a television presenter best known for her work on Sky, including At Home with Hayley Palmer and Saturday Night with Hayley Palmer.
She and Mark first crossed paths at the National Television Awards in 2022. Their meeting eventually developed into a relationship, with the pair going public in 2023.
At the time, Mark revealed that the pair lived around 150 miles apart and had only been on a handful of dates despite having been seeing each other for several months.
Their first romance appeared to be going well, and the couple regularly shared glimpses of their relationship. They also appeared together on ITV’s Loose Women shortly before their first anniversary.
But the relationship came to an abrupt end in May 2024, just days after the pair had celebrated a year together.
Hayley announced the split publicly, saying they had gone their separate ways after what she described as the best year together. The breakup was particularly difficult because it came so soon after their anniversary celebrations.
Hayley later described the breakup as traumatic and said she had been left heartbroken by the way it happened. She also gave her account of the circumstances surrounding the split, saying Mark had told her he did not want to divorce his estranged wife, Katie.
Mark subsequently offered his own explanation when discussing the breakup later in 2024. He said Hayley was a lovely woman and that he had been very lucky to have dated her, but added that he felt he had “got old”.
The two therefore gave different accounts of what brought their first relationship to an end, but both eventually moved on with their lives.
How Mark and Hayley found their way back to each other
Two years after their split, the pair unexpectedly found themselves back in contact.
Mark has said that he spotted Hayley at St Pancras station while he was in London for work. He was unable to approach her at the time because a car was waiting for him, but he later sent her a message asking whether he had seen her.
That message led to them meeting again, and their relationship gradually restarted.
By September 2026, Mark had confirmed that they had been dating again for around three months. He also appeared to suggest that the relationship could become more serious, saying that Hayley would be the first person to know if an engagement were to happen.
The renewed romance has included a series of relaxed dates, with Mark revealing that Nando’s has become something of a regular fixture.
In one recent Instagram post, he shared a picture of himself and Hayley together and joked that Monday was Nando’s night again, adding that Hayley loves it and that he had joined the restaurant’s reward scheme.
Their reunion has also been seen publicly, including their appearance together at this year’s National Television Awards in London.
For fans who remember the couple’s first relationship and its sudden ending, seeing Mark and Hayley together again marks a striking change in their story.
The pair have now gone from meeting at the National Television Awards in 2022, to dating, separating after a year, and eventually finding their way back to one another two years later.
Mark continues to appear as The Beast on The Chase, while Hayley remains a familiar face on Sky television. Their second chapter together has added a new twist to the personal life of one of ITV’s longest-serving Chasers.
The Chase is available to watch on ITV and ITVX.
