Mark Labbett: The Chase's 'Beast' blindsides Hayley Palmer by dumping her over the phone - ex claims

Trivia master ‘The Beast’ has reportedly lived up to his name, with ex claiming he dumped her with a surprise phone call last month.

Mark Labbett, 56, is best known as trivia master ‘The Beast’ on popular British game show The Chase, where competitors race to beat professional quizzers in answering general knowledge questions for a cash prize. He had been dating TV presenter Hayley Palmer since early 2023 after his separation from his wife - his second cousin Katie Labbett - in 2020.

But Labbett and Palmer called it quits in May, and now Palmer has revealed to The Sun how their breakup played out. She claimed that Labbett had ended their year-long relationship just days after celebrating their first anniversary, because he didn’t want to divorce his ex-wife.

“He has really lived up to his name,” she told the tabloid. “The Beast has been a beast. It has come as a complete shock. I thought we were really happy.”

The break-up had left her “heartbroken and blindsided”, she continued, describing his behaviour as “beastly”. Labbett reportedly called Palmer after she asked what was happening with his divorce, and the call started as a normal conversation.

But Labbett quickly turned the tables on her, she said, saying: “I don’t know how to tell you this, but you were right. I don’t want to divorce my ex-wife.”

The pair had been planning to move in together, she continued, saying she was shocked by his “cold as ice” demeanour on the three-minute phone call. "I would have respected his decision if he’d come to me... The fact that he didn’t have the respect for me, and for him to do it over the phone - it was a really low move.”

Labbett shares a young son with his ex-wife. The official reason the couple gave for their split was their 27-year age difference, Heart Radio reports, although reports later emerged that Katie had been seeing another man for some time.