Rylan Clark 'traumatised' by joke act portrayal on The X Factor

TV and radio star Rylan Clark admits he was left traumatised by his portrayal as a "joke act" on 'The X Factor'.

Rylan Clark

Rylan Clark was left traumatised by his portrayal on 'The X Factor'.

The 35-year-old presenter - who has gone onto become a huge star on TV and radio - rose to fame on the ITV talent show in 2012, and being seen as the "joke act" means even now, he "hates being made to sing".

In scenes filmed for the upcoming final episode of BBC Two's 'Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour', he said: "Every week I was thrown into the lion’s den doing stuff that I didn’t know.

“It’s like an internal thing now. Once you’ve been through that, when someone goes, ‘Go on, just do it’, it makes me go, ‘I can’t, I can’t just go and do it’.

"I feel like I’ve worked so hard to move away from that ‘f****** idiot’ that I was perceived as, that character who couldn’t sing.

"That could f*** someone up majorly.”

In this Sunday's (26.05.24) episode of 'Grand Tour', his co-star Rob Rinder arranges for him to sing as part of an opera concerto in Rome, but the experience brought back bad memories from his run on 'The X Factor'.

He explained: "My job on 'X Factor' wasn’t to be the singer, so I played that role. My job was to be the joke act, the one everyone would speak about and be on the front page of the paper every day."

However, his road trip show with friend Rob has given him more self-confidence along with the realisation that he's "more" than just a punchline on the singing competition.

He added: “If I’ve learned anything on this 'Grand Tour', it is that there’s more to me than that.

"I’m not thick, I’ve got more to give than just being that idiot on the telly with the shiny teeth.”