THE Chase star Mark Labbett has revealed that he's been forced to deny that he got a gastric band after his impressive 10st weight loss.

The quiz genius, known as The Beast on the popular ITV game show, said he was tempted to have weight loss surgery but decided against and has shed the pounds through diet and exercise alone.

Mark, 57, said he now struggles to finish a roast dinner and "eats a fraction" of what he used to.

Speaking exclusively to The Sun, Mark said: "I’m not really trying to diet, I’m just being sensible, people say you’ve had the gastric sleeve or band, and I haven’t.

"And how you can tell is look at my face, do I look like I’m drawn? I’ve lost it slowly."

A gastric band is a band that is placed around your stomach, so you do not need to eat as much to feel full.

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But Mark, who weighed 378lbs at his heaviest, opted against it following advice from a doctor.

"I was tempted by the gastric band but a good friend of mine who's a GP, said my problem is sugar, I have a sweet tooth," he continued.

"A gastric band is useless for me because sugar metabolises quite quickly, so I’ve done it the old fashion way by eating a bit less and I’ve tried to go to the gym."

The professional quizmaster, who showed off his incredible weight loss at the Dirty Dancing Gala night at the West End in London last week, said he struggles to get through a traditional carvery dinner now.

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"I think the major one – I’ve said various  ones but they all chip in. Exercising the dog, the diabetes medication helped, running around my five/six year old during the pandemic," he told us at the star-studded event.

"One of the major thing, I notice that people say I eat a fraction of what I normally eat.

"I have a standard carvery and I struggle to finish it – I eat so less but I drink so much more liquids, So my stomachs filled up.

"The last time I was in a pair of 38 jeans was 1989, so I’m feeling quite good about that.

"I think I’m down to 20 stone, I lost around 10 stone."

Last year, Mark explained during an appearance on Loose Women that he had shed ten stone.

The quizzing star, who has a young son, said: "I’ve been around 26 stone up until lockdown, and then a few things happened quite nicely and came together and I started losing weight.

“The principal thing is running around after a hyperactive toddler when nurseries have been shut. How do you keep up with them?

“I found at the end of the evening instead of going to the fridge for late night snacking, all I could do was collapse on the bed.”

Fans recently didn't recognise Mark due to the sheer amount of weight he had lost.

In December, posed with one of his Christmas presents – the board game version of Pointless, one of The Chase's great rivals in the quizzing world.

He wrote, referring to the game's former co-host: "This was my secret Santa at the Northwich Panto. I suspect Richard Osman."

Several said they were astonished, with one tweeting: "Jesus, almost didn't recognise you, really smashed that weightloss."

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Another wrote: "Bloody hell, actually didn’t think that was you and thought it was possibly your son or a relative lol."

Mark previously revealed he turned down I'm A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2016, because he didn't think the basic diet of rice and beans would be substantial enough for him.

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