He was renowned for his womanising ways – until he met Michelle Keegan – and now Mark Wright will be helping contestants find love on new reality show The Bachelor.
Which is good news for his career, but means yet more time living away from his wife, as it will apparently be filmed nearly 14,000 miles away, in South Africa.
Mark took to Instagram on Friday to announce he will be hosting the dating show, which he said will hopefully air in January.
Read more: Mark Wright shows appreciation for Michelle Keegan with Instagram comment
The former TOWIE star said: “I can officially announce one of the reasons I’m coming home is because I’ll be hosting The Bachelor for Channel 5.
“I’m so excited, it’s such a huge brand here in America so I’m so excited to bring that to the UK.”
He continued: “I’ve seen The Bachelor, I’ve seen the girls, I’ve seen the contestants and the villa where it’s going to be shot. Everything looks spectacular.
“But what I’m most excited about is I get to spend some time with my wife and my family before I do that.”
Mark said during the show he’ll be coming back and forth to spend time with Michelle and his family because that “means so much” to him.
The 31-year-old is currently based in LA, where he presents entertainment show Extra.
According to The Sun, however, a source claims the show will force Mark and Michelle to spend even more time away from each other.
The source said: “Mark has already had an incredibly busy year presenting on Extra.
“Now he’s getting ready to jet off again to front another show which is an amazing opportunity – but it means more time out of the country and being apart from Michelle.
“He’s really excited to get stuck in with the show though and looking forward to lending his professional dating expertise.”
ED! has contacted Mark’s representatives for comment.
Read more: Michelle Keegan shocks with topless pic as it’s revealed Our Girl could be axed
The couple have been married since May 2015, and have spent most of that time apart, with Mark 5k miles away, working in America, and former Corrie star, Michelle, 31, filming all over the world for BBC series Our Girl.
Michelle has played feisty Army medic Corporal Georgie Lane in the drama since 2016, taking over from EastEnders actress Lacey Turner.
But this could end up being an opportunity for her reality star husband to spend more time at home in the UK, as The Bachelor is airing here – which means he’ll be spending time at home to promote it.
Channel 5 announced in September that they were axing Big Brother – and were already lining The Bachelor up to replace it.
If you’re not familiar, The Bachelor turns love into a numbers game, by placing one man in a house full of women. They then compete for his affections risking elimination during the infamous ‘rose ceremonies’.
The show has been so successful in America, it’s not only endured 22 series, but there have also been a dozen spin-offs, including The Bachelorette, Bachelor Pad, Bachelor in Paradise, Bachelor in Paradise: After Paradise, and The Bachelor Winter Games.
It’s not the first time the show has been made for British screens – in fact it originally appeared on BBC3 in 2003.
It was later recreated with celebrity contestants on Channel 5. Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews and rugby star Gavin Henson both appeared before it was cancelled in 2013.
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Could you cope with your partner living so far away for most of the year? We’re not sure we could…
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