Rylan Clark-Neal is "gutted" he wasn’t able to get Dale Winton’s blessing to host the relaunched ‘Supermarket Sweep’ before the TV legend passed away.
Rylan is hosting a revamped version of the beloved 90s game show, which was originally presented by Dale – who died aged 62 in April last year – from 1993 to 2001.
The 30-year-old star insists he was "born" to front the trolley dash programme but he wishes he could have spoken to Dale before his death to get his seal of approval to take on the series and get some tips.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, he said: "The most gutting thing when Dale died was I never had the opportunity to ask him about it. Every job I’ve inherited, like Strictly’s ‘It Takes Two’ and the radio show with Zoe Ball or ‘Big Brother’ with Emma Willis, I’ll always ring them first and say, ‘Are you OK with me doing it?’ And genuinely, if they said no, I wouldn’t have taken the show. That’s how I am, there’s not a lot of people that are like that but I was just brought up that way.
"If Dale was still around, he’d be doing it, as it’s his show. But sadly he’s not. Hopefully if a millionth of the people say, ‘Oh, he’s done a good job,’ I’ll be happy, as Dale is probably the toughest act I’ve ever had to follow."
Rylan admits when his name was repeated linked to the new ITV2 version of ‘Supermarket Sweep’ he was delighted because he knows it is the perfect vehicle for him, and he would have been fuming if the job had gone to someone else.
He added: "I was born to do this. Out of all the shows I’ve done, even ‘Big Brother’, there was never a sense of ‘it makes sense’ – unlike ‘Supermarket Sweep’. The second it was announced that the rights had been bought, I kept hearing, ‘Oh yeah, Rylan will host that,’ and I was like, ‘Of course I f***ing will.’
"My first thought was, ‘If you give this to Stephen Mulhern I’m having a row. I love Stephen, but I’m not having that one!"
Rylan admits the 2019 show will be very loyal to the original but will have some new twists such as the contestants using self-service scanners and celebrity guests.
Rylan Clark-Neal wanted Dale Winton’s Supermarket Sweep blessing
