Mark Labbett from 'The Chase' has opened up about accidentally marrying his second cousin

Mark Labbett, better known as 'The Beast' from ITV quiz show The Chase, has revealed that he is married to his second cousin who is also half his age.

Mark, 52, originally from Tiverton, Devon, married Katie, 25, in 2014, but admitted that he had no idea they were related when they first met.

The quiz master described their unusual union as 'one of those things' and confessed he's still struggling to adjust to married life during an appearance on ITV's Loose Women.

When questioned about being related to his wife by panelist Andrea McLean Mark said: 'It wasn't something we were aware of at the time its just one of those things that happened.'

The daytime TV star added that he was struggling to say goodbye to his old bachelor lifestyle.

He continued: 'I'd been a single man for a long while so I was getting used to the idea of being on my own. 

'A bachelor can be pretty selfish, you get used to doing what you wanna do all the time.

'As a couple of my friends pointed out the big challenge for me was learning to adapt to being with someone else, some would say I'm still struggling with that but I'm trying my best.' 

Despite his mean alter-ego on-screen, Katie, who was with Mark a year before they married, described her husband as actually a 'big softie'.   

The couple revealed that their relationship actually came from a 'misunderstanding'. 

Katie said: 'It came from a mistake, Mark misunderstood something I said. Then it came from that.'

Mark agreed, joking that their unlikely meeting had been a 'good mistake'. 

Mark is known for his huge stature standing at an impressive six foot six and weighing 27st.

The maths whiz joked that producers were keeping him well fed and tried to tempt him into choosing desserts instead of fruits on The Chase's set.

'They get really upset when I lose weight, I'm down about ten kilos at the moment and they're already getting a bit nervous about it,' he said. 

Mark revealed the key to his intimidating character isn't his height but rather his experience as a teacher, which allows him to treat The Chase contestants like they're schoolchildren.

'It's very simple, I was a teacher for 15 years and I treat a contestant like they're a badly behaved fifth former on a wet Wednesday afternoon. It works really well,' he joked.

Mark's co-star Anne Hegerty, who stars as The Governess on The Chase, appeared on Loose Women last week to discuss her hidden battle with Asperger's syndrome.

Anne said inability to multi-task, a symptom of the syndrome, led to her losing her job and living on benefits.

'It was New Year's Day 2008 and I had two bailiffs turn up separately on my doorstep ten minutes apart. I was like "Do you two know each other?'' she said.

'Because I had so little income I had not been paying bills. I respect the concept of paying bills, I'm very much in favour of it, I just couldn't get it all together.'

Anne's social worker was able to help her filling in forms to repay bills and even helped cover her fare to her audition for The Chase. 

Source: Daily Mail.