Rylan Clark shares reason he quit Strictly's It Takes Two and says his agent wasn't happy

Former It Takes Two host Rylan Clark has finally revealed the real reason he left the Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show - and not everybody was happy about it

Rylan Clark has revealed the real reason he quit hosting Strictly Come Dancing spin-off show It Takes Two.

The TV and radio presenter announced he was leaving the BBC show in April last year after four years. In an emotional post on social media, the 34-year-old wrote: "Been a pleasure @bbcstrictly." The statement continued: "After four fantastic years it's time for me to hang up my glittery jacket and say goodbye to It Takes Two. I've had the best time hosting alongside Janette and Zoe and I can't thank the amazing team enough for always putting on a great show.

"I've been welcomed into the Strictly family and will firmly hold that title dear to me. The time has come for me to pass on the baton to someone else and explore what else life has for me. Thank you Strictly, you will always have my heart...and my dancing feet."

The show was originally hosted by Claudia Winkleman, but in 2011 Zoe Ball took over and was joined by Rylan in 2019 as a co-host. In 2021, Zoe announced she would be stepping down and Janette Manrara was confirmed as her replacement. Former X Factor star Fleur East will co-host with Janette after Rylan’s departure when Strictly returns later this month.

Now Rylan, who still presents a show on BBC Radio 2, has finally shared the real reason that led to him leaving the show – and revealed his agents were not impressed when he first told them of his decision. "I’ve been doing the same type of job for 10 years. For me, I just got to the point, ‘What do I want? What would I like to be? Who do I want to be? What show do I want to do in the future?," he told The Sun. "And it’s really hard to try to work that out while you’re doing different things. So I had to take that step back, have a minute to myself, let it breathe, and not turn on the TV and see yourself while you’re watching what everyone else is doing."

Saying it was a "really good decision" for him, Rylan added not everyone was pleased. He explained: "When you tell your agents you’re quitting the biggest show on TV, you can imagine they s*** themselves!" Earlier this month, Rylan announced he was taking a break from his radio show to look after his 71-year-old mum Linda – who he stars on Celebrity Gogglebox with- after she had a nightmare fall while they were on holiday together.

Giving fans an update as he returned to the airwaves yesterday, he told listeners: "Unfortunately, decided to take mummy Linda on holiday…She's not been away for 10 years. And what (did) she going to do? Falls over and breaks an arm and leg, what (are) you going to do? Classic Linda, classic Linda. Now a little broken arm and a leg, (I) can deal with that but when you take that up with everything else (that) is wrong with her? Nightmare, especially abroad."

After flying mum Linda home by private jet, Rylan added: "Mummy Linda is home safe and sound, she is recovering, she’s chilling out. There’s honestly, for want for a better term, I don’t mean this in a rude way, it’s like someone’s died. The amount of people that have been around the house, there’s flowers. It’s all gone on. All the neighbours come out. It was like someone had come home from war."

Praising staff at the hospital in Malaga, Spain, where Linda was treated, Rylan joked: "The hospital looked after mummy so well so muchas gracias. It was a five-star hotel, the hospital, they had champagne on the menu, I nearly checked in myself, and you should have seen the physio (physiotherapist), I nearly broke my own arm, oh my God."

*Strictly It Takes Two returns on Monday September 25 at 6.30pm on BBC 2 and BBC iPlayer

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