Mark Wright was asked to be The Bachelor when he left 'The Only Way is Essex'.

Mark Wright

Mark Wright

The 31-year-old star - who is married to Michelle Keegan - was asked to look for the love on the programme but turned it down in favour of competing on 'I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!' because he was keen to shed the "ladies' man" image he'd acquired on the reality show.

He said: "They asked me to be The Bachelor about six years ago when Spencer [Matthews] or Gavin [Henson] did it...

"I turned it down because I didn't think it was right for me. I'd just come out of 'TOWIE' and it was either that option or go into the jungle and I didn't want to carry on that ladies man image and I wanted to peel away from it as soon as possible."

Mark is the new presenter of the Channel 5 show and not only did he develop an "amazing" relationship with the female hopefuls, he also struck up a "bromance" with the Bachelor himself, Alex Marks.

Asked about Alex's recent comments that the women "hated" Mark because he always had to break bad news, he told MailOnline: "They didn't hate me. I had an amazing relationship with the girls.

"If you look at their Instagrams they put up pictures of me and are like "OMG Mark is the nicest guy!" because I was always there for them and putting my arm around them when they were upset. What he meant was I was the bearer of bad news...

"Me and Alex got on really well, we had a bromance. He needed me! He had him alone and 17 women fighting over him and I know that sounds amazing and the dream. I was there for him to talk to as he was away from his family and friends and he's never been to South Africa so it was nice to have a mate."

Mark - who recently quit his job as a presenter on US TV show 'Extra' to return to the UK - insisted he isn't ashamed of his reality TV roots and will always be grateful for the way 'TOWIE' changed his life.

He said: "I wouldn't say I want to shed my 'TOWIE' label and I'm not ashamed of 'TOWIE' one bit.

"I wouldn't be here now if it wasn't for 'TOWIE'. No, I wouldn't be [with Michelle now without 'TOWIE']...

"I always say this phrase is a show like 'TOWIE' can propel you into earning money for many years it's only a short period of time that that can feed you then you have to think what you're gonna do after it, what's next?...

"What am i gonna do here? It's the easiest way to make money on a show like that but if you want to do something more serious it's not so easy."

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