Mark Wright owes his US success to Niall Horan.
The former ‘Only Way is Essex’ star landed his dream job working on ‘Extra’ last year and revealed in order to bag the position, he’d been given a week to "produce, direct and interview" a massive star on the scale of One Direction and the Beckham family, and though he initially panicked, he called the 24-year-old singer, who gave him behind-the-scenes access to
his debut music video.
Mark said: "I will thank Niall forever. I have got close to him over the last year and he has helped me settle in."
And the 30-year-old star – who is married to Michelle Keegan – was given a full-time role after he got off a plane from Los Angeles back to the UK after being asked to interview James Corden.
He recalled in an interview with the Sunday Mirror newspaper: "I was at the airport. Luggage in the hold. The producer Teresa calls me and says ‘Mark are you still in town?’.
"I was like ‘I am but I’m leaving now’. She said, ‘Oh, never mind. We had a James Corden interview and we were going to ask you to do it’.
"I get on the plane and something doesn’t feel right. I’m like ‘I’ve got to get off’. I call Teresa and I’m like ‘I’m coming back’. I got back to the hotel at 11pm and the next day I interviewed Corden.
"My boss told me, ‘What you did yesterday, that goes a million miles. I knew you were hungry because you got off that plane and made it happen’.
"Now I wake up every day, there is sunshine and I am buzzing to get to set. I feel good and it’s the most I have ever enjoyed work."
Mark sees his future in the US and would only return to the UK if he was offered a "big Saturday night show", though he doesn’t think it’s likely.
He said: "If I get offered the next big Saturday night show in England I would go home to do, it but then I would stay here.
"I’ve got a great relationship with ITV, but the shows aren’t there all the time plus there’s a pool of hosts so good at what they do. If I was a producer, I’d be giving a show to them too."
Mark Wright owes success to Niall Horan
