Rylan Clark and Rob Rinder have publicly rejected persistent rumours that they are romantically involved, telling the Radio Times that the idea of a relationship between them "would feel like incest" and pushing back against assumptions that two gay men who get on must be a couple.
The pair, whose chemistry on last year’s BBC travel series Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour attracted widespread attention, are reunited for a new series that begins in Delhi, where they visit landmarks including Humayun’s tomb and India Gate. The BBC Two programme, Rob and Rylan's Passage to India, is scheduled to air Sunday, Sept. 14, at 9 p.m.
Asked why viewers frequently assume they are in a relationship, Clark said people still presume that "two gay guys who get on must be together; that two gay men can't just be mates." He added that his mother had been congratulated by strangers who believed the two were a couple. Rinder and Clark both characterised their bond as close and at times like a marriage, with Clark joking that if they were a romantic couple he would have "smothered him with a pillow by now," adding, "That's what marriage is, isn't it? Row all the time and don't have sex. We're in a proper marriage." The duo said they had seen each other naked but insisted nothing sexual had happened between them, saying flatly, "No way!...It would feel like incest."
The pair won a BAFTA TV Award in May for the first series of Rob and Rylan's Grand Tour. During the acceptance speech, Clark spoke candidly about his personal life, saying his work on the programme had acted as therapy following his 2021 divorce from Dan Neal after six years of marriage. Clark told the audience he "wasn't fully over" the breakdown of his marriage when the series began and that the travels with Rinder had helped him through a difficult period.
Clark has since entered a new relationship. He has spoken publicly about dating fairground worker Kennedy Bates, telling Louis Theroux on his How To Be In Love podcast that Bates is the first man he has introduced to his family since his divorce and that the couple have discussed having children. Clark said he had been "blatant" about the romance, going on public dates despite sometimes trying to keep aspects of his private life quieter in the past. He confirmed to co-hosts on BBC Radio 2 that he was seeing someone, describing the relationship as "very different to anything I've had before."
The new India series follows the two presenters as they travel together and engage with local history and culture, continuing the format that won them critical recognition. Producers have promoted the series as a journey through Indian cities and landmarks; the first episode opens in Delhi and features the 16th-century tomb of Emperor Humayun, which inspired the Taj Mahal.
Clark and Rinder's comments come amid ongoing public discussion about representations of gay male friendship on screen. Their frank responses to audience speculation underline a broader conversation about how intimacy and camaraderie between men are perceived. The pair have maintained that their relationship is a close friendship developed through travel and shared work commitments and that it remains platonic.
Rob and Rylan's Passage to India airs on BBC Two on Sunday, Sept. 14, at 9 p.m.