Rylan Clark has spoken about the horrific abuse he suffered while filming his BBC series with Rob Rinder in Venice, Italy.
The Eurovision presenter, 35, got candid while chatting on Olivia Attwood’s So Wrong It’s Right podcast as he revealed how members of the public shouted homophobic comments at him during filming.
Rylan had been shooting Rob And Rylan’s Grand Tour in Venice with his friend Rinder, 45, where they spent time with an underground drag collective called House Of Serenissima.
‘All these people would meet behind closed doors to dress up in drag, have fun, have a lovely day, wipe off all the drag and then go back out on the streets of Venice and go home,’ Rylan explained.
‘It’s behind closed doors because they didn’t feel safe.
Rylan Clark has spoken about the horrific abuse he suffered while filming his BBC series with Rob Rinder in Venice, Italy
‘I’m quite impulsive and think, ‘f**k it, let’s have a laugh’ [but] Rob goes, ‘what’s the reason?’. So we go to meet this collective, all gorgeous and lovely.
‘Rob finally got it and we dressed up in drag, the pair of us, and we walked with the whole collective to San Marco Square – Rob was giving Pauline Fowler vibes, it was the look he ended up with.’
‘We were walking through and one thing that really stood out was someone shouted out something in Italian.
‘It was a young guy, probably 20 something, I turned to one of the drag queens and said, “what did he just say?”. And they said, “burn the f****ts”.’
‘I’m now 20 foot in a pair of heels, I wanted to go mad,’ Rylan admitted. ‘I wanted to go after this bloke and basically knock him out,’ he told bluntly.
Yet surprisingly what happened a few moments later proved to be a silver lining.
‘Then what happened, 200m later there was a group of old nonnas, probably in their 90s, and they all stood up and clapped us.
‘It was that realisation of thinking we always blame the older generation for everything, they’re backwards in their thinking, when actually it was that generation that was applauding this collective for being comfortable in who they are, and yet it was our generation of people who were shouting out ‘burn the f****s’.
The Eurovision presenter, 35, got candid while chatting on Olivia Attwood ‘s So Wrong It’s Right podcast as he revealed how members of the public shouted homophobic comments at him during filming (pictured on the show)
Rylan had been shooting Rob And Rylan’s Grand Tour in Venice with his friend Rinder, 45, where they spent time with an underground drag collective called House Of Serenissima
‘That was a real realisation moment, not just for us, but for them as well. They realised the people they thought we would offend or upset are the ones looking after us. It was really beautiful,’ he finished.
The BBC2 series sees the pair travelling across Italy for their own grand tour, which was a rite of passage for the young male nobility famous during the 18th Century.
The duo follow in the footsteps of Lord Byron on the 200th anniversary of his death, retracing his journey across Venice, Florence and Rome.
It comes after Rylan recently spoke out about dealing with homophobic abuse online, insisting he has no reason to feel ashamed of who he is.
The television presenter rose to fame as a contestant on The X Factor in 2012 and he credits the show with giving him a thick skin.
While he says he would ‘hate nothing more’ than to take part in the now-axed TV talent show again, he is glad it was a stepping stone to the career and life he has today.
He said on The Radio Times Podcast: ‘You can look on social media and see someone say something that makes you feel like s**t for two minutes.
‘But then I sit there and think, “I’m rich. I’ve come out of a council house in Stepney Green.” Do you think I give a f**k that Julie038765XYZ on Twitter says that I’ve got horse teeth or I’m too gay?
‘If I do feel like s**t, I just check my bank balance.’
While Rylan – who finished in fifth place on the ninth series of The X Factor in 2012 and went on to win Celebrity Big Brother the following year – would be wary about appearing on certain reality shows again, there is one programme he would definitely sign up for.
Rylan rose to fame as a contestant on The X Factor in 2012 (pictured) and he credits the show with giving him a thick skin
He says he would love to do a celebrity version of The Traitors if one was commissioned.
Rylan explained: ‘I would hate nothing more than to be a contestant again. Unless it was on celebrity Traitors. I’d go to town on that.
‘Literally every time I see [host] Claudia [Winkleman] I’m like, “Why has this not been done? Sort it out or I’ll cut your fringe off, babe.”‘