She finds herself at the center of one of the most unlikely love triangles in showbiz.
And it looks like The Beast Mark Labbett’s old flame Katie has lured him back in with a glamorous new look, which she revealed in a stunning snap she shared on his social media.
The quizzer, 59, has been slammed by friends of his ex Hayley Palmer after he brutally dumped her earlier this year, and has since reunited with his estranged wife Katie for a getaway with their son Lawrence.
In a snap shared to Mark’s social media, Katie showed off a slimmed-down new look, wearing a figure-hugging burgundy turtleneck.
Showing a newfound appreciation for designer accessories, she completed her look with a pair of chic Chanel heels, glam makeup and a bouncy blow-dryer.
She snapped up with ex Mark, captioning it ‘Co-parenting in London’ as they enjoyed a day out at the Natural History Museum.
In 2020, Mark ended his seven-year marriage to his second cousin Katie, 27 years his junior and the mother of his seven-year-old son Lawrence.
The Beast Mark Labbett’s old flame Katie has lured him back with a glamorous new look, which she revealed in a stunning photo shared to his social media
The quizzer has been slammed by friends of his ex Hayley Palmer after he brutally dumped her earlier this year before reconnecting with his former husband
In 2020, Mark called off his seven-year marriage to his second cousin Katie, mother of his seven-year-old son Lawrence, but they recently reunited for a family day out (pictured in 2017)
After the split, Mark dated Hayley, 43, but brutally dumped her during a three-minute phone call in May, days after their one-year anniversary, telling her: ‘I don’t think we should see each other anymore. You were right, I don’t want a divorce [from Katie].’
It’s thought friends of Hayley are now furious to see Mark getting close to Katie again, with one telling The Mail: ‘Hayley saw the messages and she was devastated. It had been six months since their breakup and the posts were going all over the place. It led to many people reaching out and had a major impact on her mental health.
‘She sent Mark a WhatsApp message, which he read but did not reply. In it she said: ‘Please be mindful of what you post on Instagram as it has an impact on mental health trying to move forward, thank you.’ ‘
But she’s still waiting for an answer from the man she once called “my gentle giant.”
Mark took a cheeky swipe at Hayley in a newspaper interview this week by suggesting their years-long relationship was not ‘serious’.
Mark was asked about his marriage to Katie and why he still had to divorce her. He replied: ‘It will happen if Katie or I have someone serious – then of course it could be a different matter.’
The sharp comment was seized upon by furious friends of Hayley.
“Mark’s comments were completely cruel,” one person told me. “If their relationship wasn’t serious, as he suggested, why would he make her believe it was?”
‘The week before he dumped her they went to see Loose Women [to talk about their relationship]. If it wasn’t as serious as he suggested, why would he do that? Hayley really believed they had a future together and they often talked about living together. He led her up the garden path.
‘He didn’t consider her feelings despite the fact she contacted him. Hayley has done everything she can to heal from the breakup.
‘What he did was very disrespectful and he clearly has no sympathy for Hayley considering all the pain he has caused her.’
Mark then married Katie, a nurse, in 2014 after they met on Facebook. Mark says they vaguely knew they shared “a family bond.” But in an extraordinary twist of fate, three years after their wedding, the couple discovered they were second cousins. Katie’s father and his father had been cousins.
“It wasn’t something we were aware of at the time; it was one of those things that happened,” the Chaser said. Still, the couple decided to put it behind them – until Mark discovered that Katie had started a secret relationship with design engineer Scott Bate.
“When Katie was honest with me for the first time about her boyfriend, I already had a suspicion,” the quizzer said at the time. “But from the beginning my attitude was quite pragmatic: this was spilled milk, what could we do about the situation to make it right?”
So instead of breaking up with his cheating wife, he agreed to try an open marriage. But Mark later revealed that life in lockdown led to pressure and created what he called a ‘perfect storm’.
It’s thought friends of Hayley (pictured last year with The Chase star) are now furious to see Mark getting closer to Katie again
Then in 2020, he decided to leave his wife and let her move on with her new young lover.
It was after the split that Mark lost ten stone – through regular exercise, he says – and unveiled his sleek new look on the red carpet of the National Television Awards in September 2022.
It was there that Mark met the statuesque Hayley, who worked as an entertainment journalist. The pair spent time together as friends, before the relationship blossomed into something more romantic and they made it official in May 2023.
Mark is a smooth talker, known in The Chase for his snappy jokes. He charmed Hayley, and her friends claim he assured her he was on the verge of divorcing Katie. She believed him and they made their long-distance relationship work – he lives in Yorkshire and Hayley lives in London – meeting for romantic dates and training together in hotel gyms.
The new couple also appeared together on ITV’s Loose Women, where Mark opened up about their relationship. Many of the couple’s friends were convinced that the amorous appearance was a sign that an engagement was in the offing.
But a week later, Hayley shocked fans when she confirmed the couple had split. She wrote: ‘I regret to announce that me and Mark have gone our separate ways. We have had the best year together and I sincerely wish him all the best for the future.”
A clue can be found in the words of a well-placed source who said Mark never got over the breakup with Katie: ‘She’s always been the love of his life’
But her words hid the depth of her grief. The TV presenter had been dumped by Mark during a 9am phone call a few hours earlier, leaving her in shock.
A friend of Hayley said: ‘They went on Loose Women to talk about their one year anniversary and were so in love. As far as Hayley was concerned, everything was going in the right direction; they even talked about living together.’
The fallout from the split has left friends of the couple questioning whether the relationship was as perfect as it seemed.
And as the unexpected heartthrob rebuilds bridges with his ex-wife, many fans are wondering: what’s next for The Beast’s colorful dating life?
A clue can be found in the words of a well-placed source who tells me that Mark never got over the breakup with Katie: “She was always the love of his life.”