THE absence of Stanford-le-Hope celebrity TV and radio presenter Rylan Clark-Neal has been explained by news broken by several national media platforms that he has split up from his husband after six years.

Rylan, 32, whose breakthrough into the celebrity limelight came after several years of flirting with TV reality shows – starting with an aborted appearance in Big Brother in 2007 – has reportedly left his husband Dan.

Since that early bid for fame, which came when he was working in a borough opticians and also behind a Stanford bar, Rylan, who was born Ross Richard Clark in Stepney, East London, before his mum Linda moved to Stanford-le-Hope, he was in several tribute boy bands in Ibiza and was also part of a Spanish boy band called 4bidden until January 2010.

In 2011 Rylan was a finalist on a Sky Living modelling competition, finishing as runner-up behind Amy Willerton.

He finally got the national acclaim he wanted in May 2012 when Rylan auditioned for the ninth series of The X Factor and won through to take part in the live finalsa before losing out in week eight of the competition.

Since then his professionalism and amiable manner as a presenter have won him many fans and he has hosted several mainstream TV programmes and is perceived very much as an authentic and well-liked TV presenter. He has his own Radio Two show on Saturday – but he mysteriously missed recent editions.

In 2013 Rylan began dating media personality and ex-Operation Yewtree police officer Dan Neal. They met when Rylan interviewed Dan on Bit On The Side after his elimination on the normal version of Big Brother. It was the same year that Rylan won the celebrity version of the show.

On September 18, 2014, the couple announced their engagement and were married in a star-studded ceremony on November 7, 2015.

In 2020, reports estimated that Rylan had raked in £4.5million since leaving The X Factor.

Sources have told national media that the celebrity couple have now split.

One told The Sun: "Rylan's one of the most beloved people on TV so fans will be sad to hear what has happened.

"He often spoke of their relationship on air and they even co-hosted an episode of This Morning but unfortunately things haven't worked out.

"They don't want to discuss it in public and a bit of time off is probably for the best for now."