Behind the Smiles: Rob Rinder Reveals the Unspoken Tension and Disappointment That Shattered His Bond With Rylan Clark
Rob and Rylan did a show together last year but they’re not always together…
Rob Rinder once revealed fans’ hilarious reactions to meeting him when his TV buddy Rylan Clark isn’t there.
TV judge Rob Rinder, 47, and Rylan, 36, share a close friendship and have fronted travel documentaries together for the BBC.
But that doesn’t mean the pair are joined at the hip, much to the dismay of fans…
Rob and Rylan are good pals (Credit: BBC)
Rob Rinder on fans’ reactions to meeting him without Rylan present
Speaking on Rylan Clark’s BBC Radio 2 show earlier this month, Rob – who is on Celebrity Catchphrase today (Saturday, June 28) – revealed that fans are often “disappointed” to meet him when they learn Rylan isn’t with him.
You can feel the slight sense of disappointment.
“I keep walking up to people and they know, obviously, that we’re friends, but you can feel the slight sense of disappointment that they’re like: ‘Oh where’s Rylan?’ As if I’m the warm-up act. I’m like the rubbish warm-up act that no one shows up for,” Rob said.
“But Rob, that’s what I get. Everyone goes: ‘Oh, where’s Rob? Where’s Rob?’” Rylan then joked.
Rylan and Rob won a BAFTA for their TV travel show (Credit: BBC)
Rylan on how travel show with Rob was ‘best therapy’
Both Rob and Rylan had suffered heartbreak before doing their Grand Tour travel show together.
Rylan had split from his husband, Dan Neal in 2021, whilst Rob had split from his husband a few years earlier, back in 2018.
Speaking about the show, which first aired in 2024, Rylan said: “For me, the show, it happened at a really weird time for me like I still wasn’t fully over sort of the breakdown of my marriage and was flung with the judge. It was the best therapy I needed, put it that way.
“I think the journey, and I hate that word in telly but it’s so true, when you watch our series, that journey from when we meet to sort of how raw, especially I was at that time,” he then added.
The pair bonded over their divorces (Credit: ITV)
Rob on ‘intense connection’ with Rylan
Rob has previously opened up about his strong bond with Rylan, with the latter admitting they’d marry each other “tomorrow”.
“Me and Rob, we’ve been through a lot of the same things. We have the same [bleep]ing lawyer – she earned a fortune out of us! We’re both recently divorced and we’re both finding ourselves,” he told New Magazine in May.
Rob and Rylan learned a lot during their time abroad for the show, and they also developed a strong friendship.
“We’d marry each other tomorrow,” Rylan confessed at the time. Rob was quick to add that the marriage would be “platonic”.
“I genuinely don’t get connections with people that often in life. I could call Rob at three in the morning and say one word – I know he’d be in fits of laughter. I could also call Rob and say: ‘I need help,’ and he’d be there straight away and vice versa,” Rylan added.
