The Chase fans have been sharing their support for Mark Labbett in recent days, amid claims by a UK news outlet that his wife has been cheating on him with a close friend.
And now, according to The Sun, the TV personality – well known as Chaser ‘The Beast’ on the quiz show – is reportedly in crisis talks with the 26-year-old and working to save their marriage following claims she was having an affair with Scott Bate, 28.
Speaking to the news outlet after the allegations first emerged last week, Labbett’s spokesman confirmed the two have not separated and are both still living together at their home.
“Mark and Katie are not splitting up,” David Hahn told The Sun. “Everything is fine between them and they have been at home together this week.”
The announcement follows claims last week by the same news outlet that Katie has been cheating on Labbett since 2017, often jetting off for romantic holidays together behind the quiz show star’s back. Snaps of the two cosying up together were reportedly strewn throughout Bate’s Facebook page with Katie and her alleged secret partner even spending Valentine’s Day together last year.
According to The Sun, sources claimed Katie and Bate became involved after being introduced by mutual friends – but they reportedly didn’t know she was married until later down the track.
“It took a while for people to realise who she was and that she was married,” a source reportedly told the publication. “Then one of Scott’s friends confronted her and she got angry about it.”
The source went on to claim the pair should end the affair but Bates is smitten and “blinded to the situation”.
Labbett, who appears on both the UK and Australian versions of The Chase, tied the knot with Katie in 2014. However, not long after exchanging vows the pair discovered they were actually related.
Back in 2017 ‘The Beast’ revealed on UK TV program Loose Women that he and Katie are in fact, cousins. Labbett claimed they had no idea they were related when they first began dating but after a while found out Katie’s dad and Mark’s father are first cousins – making them second cousins.
“It wasn’t something we were aware of at the time – it was one of those things that happened,” he told panellists on the show.