TEN: The decade that changed my future

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On Radio 4 and Sounds, Rylan has a new show, Rylan: How to Be a Man. He’s interesting, Rylan: a naturally gifted presenter (he was a great host of the recent Audio and Radio Industry awards), he has, in the past, not always been stretched by his broadcasting choices. Ry-Union, a 2021-22 podcast in which he chatted to reality show celebs, was pretty weak. On this new show he’s better produced (though the Zoom call sound isn’t great), with a proper theme and set of questions. The topic is men and masculinity. And Rylan does well, though many of his interviewees seem prepped: they all say it’s OK for men to cry; that asking for help when you feel down is not, of itself, un-masculine. Such insights can seem basic, and the first interview, with wildlife cameraman/TV presenter Hamza Yassin, was a little dull. Still, I very much enjoyed ex-boxer Amir Khan and, to my great surprise, model David Gandy, who talked well about being one of the few male models known by name. This is Rylan as you've never seen him before - an intimate, fascinating and joyful insight into an extraordinary ten years on the telly and in our hearts. I finished it with a newfound respect for him, and I thoroughly enjoyed the insight into his life and the entertainment industry. It became boring when he went on and on about his make up and his perfumes because, honestly, who cares? I doubt there are many men who use anywhere near the amount of make up he slaps on himself.

Funny and outspoken, Rylan is one of the UK's most-loved presenters and a true household name. Rylan first emerged on our screens in September 2012 and in the ten years since then has become a one-of-a-kind national treasure.

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With unforgettable stories about his rise to fame, his biggest regrets and his special bond with his beloved mum, The decade that changed my future is as warm and honest, enormously entertaining and full of surprises as its brilliant Sunday Times bestselling author. With unforgettable stories about his rise to fame, his biggest regrets and his special bond with his beloved mum, TEN: The decade that changed my future is as warm and honest, enormously entertaining and full of surprises as its brilliant Sunday Times bestselling author.

I'm not really sure where to start with this book, there were bits that were very good and there were bits that were not. The book is centred around the breakdown of Rylan's/Ross' marriage and the subsequent impact this had on him and these parts are well written and impactful but other areas of the book fell short. As I am a similar age to Rylan I particularly enjoyed the references to growing up in the 1990's and the sections on Big Brother's Big Mouth, This Morning, Eurovision and Radio 2 were interesting to read. However there was such a lot of filler, that when I got to whole chapters which were just lists of things Rylan doesn't like or descriptions of his beauty regime it really felt as though he was struggling to meet the word count or that he had a 3 book deal and that this was the difficult middle book. The candid account of his breakdown and struggles with mental health after the breakdown of his marriage was raw and honest. As a society we don't discuss male mental health enough, but this book discusses it unflinchingly, and I applaud that. I was also puzzled by a little comment on p.12 - Rylan claims he has never been a heavy drinker, despite spending a lot of book one and some of book two getting absolutely hammered. Unless he has a spectacularly weak tolerance for alcohol, this doesn't really make a lot of sense. I'd have liked it to be less superficial, the chapter where he talked about politics (although not giving any opinion of his own due to BBC commitments) was interesting and showed a deeper side to him that I would have liked to have seen more of throughout the book. I would also like to have read more about his time in the Big Brother house as I felt that chapter skimmed over his own experiences a little.