The Chase’s Mark Labbett and girlfriend Hayley Palmer look smitten as they leave his London hotel holding hands

Mark Labbett and girlfriend Hayley Palmer looked smitten as they left his London hotel hand in hand ahead of their Loose Women appearance on Wednesday.

The Chaser, 58, who is known as ‘The Beast’ on the ITV show, has been dating Hayley for five months after they met at the National Television Awards last year.

Mark looked good in a gray suit with a white shirt and black shoes, carrying a bag on his shoulder.

Meanwhile, Hayley put on a leggy display in a plunging floral midi dress paired with beige heels.

It was recently revealed that Mark was in a relationship with the TV presenter, 41, after divorcing his wife Katie in 2020.

Sources claim the TV star, best known for his alter ego The Beast, courted the GB News presenter on a series of dates after being ‘friends for a while’.

Earlier in July, Mark opened up about his blossoming new relationship with his new girlfriend when he admitted that the relationship has its challenges due to the distances between them.

Mark lives in Rotherham, while Hayley lives in London.

But despite only going on a handful of dates since they first met in October 2022, he said of their recent time together in LA, “Actually, we got along really well.”

Speaking to The Sun, Mark explained how he first met his now-girlfriend when they were introduced at the National Television Awards at Wembley’s OVO Arena in October.

Hayley recalled how on the night she was impressed by The Beast’s Toby Carvery Gold Card and jokingly tried to steal it from him.

Mark revealed it was Hayley who then asked him out on their first date, when she invited him to join her at Dirty Dancing The Musical’s press night in late January.

At the end of their night out at the theatre, the TV personality said he was “quite impressed” with Hayley, but “couldn’t get a sense” if she felt the same way about him.

Deciding to “resort to honesty,” The Chase star told the presenter, “I really like you,” before asking her if there was any chance of a second date.

Now, five months after their first date, Mark confessed that the long distance can make things difficult, saying: “We’ve been dating for about five, six months but we’ve only had a few dates because we’re about 150 years old .” miles away.

“We pull out diaries and ask, ‘When are we physically in the same location?'” That’s why LA was so good. We spent some quality time together and actually got along really well.”

Mark looked good in a gray suit with a white shirt and black shoes, carrying a bag on his shoulder.

It comes after Mark split from his wife Katie in 2020 after seven years of marriage, blaming lockdown, mental health and their huge age difference as the causes of their relationship ending.

A source told The Sun of Mark and Hayley in May: “They’ve been friends for a while and lately it’s blossomed into something more.”

In 2020, Mark revealed that he and Katie had split following their marriage in 2014, with the couple’s parents having a six-year-old son.

In a candid interview at the time, Mark admitted “it’s better for us to go our separate ways,” after the couple’s attempts to have an open marriage fell through.

He told The Sun: “There was never any cheating on Katie’s part, but it’s come to a point where I realize it’s better for us to go our separate ways and stay friendly.”

While Katie added, “I just want everyone to know what’s what and we’re all happy.”

It has been revealed that Katie, who works as a nurse, has been seeing her senior design engineer, Scott Bate, 30, for 20 months.

Mark admitted that he felt she was hanging out with Scott, but decided to do things wisely for the sake of their son.

But when the lockdown came, things got tense between him and Katie and she started seeing Scott, which led to Mark making the decision to end their marriage for good.

He explained, “When Katie first told me about her boyfriend, I had a hunch. But from the start my attitude was quite pragmatic – this was spilled milk, what can we do to make amends?’

He added that because they had a “family” he could just “throw that lightly” as they had other “considerations”.

Mark and Katie married in October 2014 at Arundel Castle, West Sussex.

His new girlfriend Hayley, from Portsmouth, is a shopping channel presenter and has just started working for Ideal World.

She also hosts her own weekly music and chat shows, including At Home With Hayley and Saturday Night With Hayley Palmer on Sky TV.

Hayley also regularly appears on GB News to comment on entertainment stories on Esther Mcvey’s weekend political show