The Chase star Mark Labbett, 59, spotted on date with TV presenter, 35

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The Chase star Mark Labbett has enjoyed a lunch date with TV presenter Emma Louise Jones, nine months after his split from his ex-partner.

The 59-year-old, who is better known as The Beast on Bradley Walsh’s ITV gameshow, split from Hayley Palmer in May last year after a year of dating.

She said it came as ‘a complete shock’ and was left ‘heartbroken and blindsided’.

Hayley also claimed Mark ‘dumped her over the phone’ and that his behaviour ‘has been beastly’.

Mark has since remained tight-lipped over his relationship breaking down, but did say he was ‘quite content’ on his own.

The TV star has now shared his lunch date with BBC Sports presenter Emma, as they both took to Instagram with a cheeky video.

Mark was pictured enjoying a lunch date with Emma Louise Jones (Picture: Instagram) Mark and Emma tucked into a Toby Carvery (Picture: Instagram/eljonesuk)

The football pundit, who regularly appears on Match of the Day, lip-synced to an audio clip of Mark bragging about his Toby Carvery Gold Card as they tucked into a meal.

The voice over saw The Chase host Bradley asking Mark: ‘How has your life changed since becoming a Chaser, Beast?’

The camera then panned to Mark, who mouthed his reply and pointed down to his meal: ‘Four words. Toby Carvery Gold Card.’

‘Showbiz lunch,’ the clip was captioned.

Mark dated presenter Hayley Palmer for a year before they split last May (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

It’s not the first time the pair have indulged in a Toby Carvery together, as Mark shared a picture in 2021, saying: ‘Having a @tobycarvery at Barnsley with superstar presenter @eljonesuk. She ate more than me but wimped out of the pudding :(.’

Their lunch date comes after Hayley once revealed she fell for Mark after he flashed his Toby Carvery card, after meeting at the National Television Awards in October 2022.

She even joked to MailOnline that she was ‘trying to get her hands on’ the card after first meeting him.

Hayley claimed the split came as ‘a complete shock’ (Picture: Ken McKay/ITV/Shutterstock)

Mark was previously in the relationship with presenter Hayley after breaking up with his wife of seven years Katie in 2020, who he shares a son with.

In 2020, he blamed his and Katie’s 27-year age gap and lockdown for their marriage breaking apart, and later said that he would divorce Katie if he ‘gets with someone serious’.

He added to The Sun after his split from Hayley: ‘I’m just quite content being on my own.

‘Facts are easy. Numbers are easy. People are complicated.

Mark, who joined The Chase as The Beast in 2009, said he is ‘quite content’ on his own (Picture: ITV/Shutterstock)

‘I could sum me up as the kind of guy who could tell you the capital of Estonia is Tallinn but would have no idea why that pretty girl is giving me a funny half-smile.

‘That’s why I never played poker seriously, because I realised I can’t read people.’

‘It’s nice just being in your man cave doing your own thing,’ he added.

‘Let’s just say I’m able to watch a lot more sport than I used to.’

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