Rylan Clark-Neal has recalled how he gave up tanning injections after they made him “really ill” and gave him heart palpitations.
On Friday’s episode of This Morning, the 29-year-old interviewed former Big Brother contestant Ryan Ruckledge about his own tanning addiction.
Ryan spent over £35,000 on tanning injections, before a health scare gave him a wake-up call.
Rylan said he understood Ryan’s comments about just wanting to look bronzed, saying he’d gone through a similar experience when he was younger.
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“I’ve been open about this in the past,” said Rylan.
“Years before X Factor, I’d been on these tanning injections before, and I do resonate with what you are saying.
“To me, it was like the Barbie drug. My hair was growing through naturally black, my tan was perfect. I’m a red head naturally and I don’t tan, and I’ve always had that hang up about being pale.
“I know people have a laugh with me and fake tan but I was on these and I got really ill from them. I had a heart palpitation from them one morning and thought, ‘I need to stop this’.”
Ryan agreed it was a health scare of his own that made him re-evaluate his tanning addiction.
As well as using injections, he’d been bronzing himself with creams, lotions, spray tans and even nasal spray, which he took before using sun beds.
He even appeared on This Morning in 2015 to suggest tanning injections should be available on the NHS – something he has now reversed his opinion on.
“My addiction started when I was about 16. I was ridiculously pale, looking at those photos makes me physically sick. I started to get taunted at school – called ugly, pale, homophobic names – and I think it just stemmed from insecurities at school,” said Ryan.
But Ryan said it all came to a head one morning when he woke up with bad chest pains and an irregular heart beat.
“My heart was going irregular. It felt like it was going out of my chest. I said, ‘Seriously, I think I’m having a heart attack’, he said.
An ambulance was called and Ryan was taken to hospital, where doctors tried to slow his heart rate. He was told as the injections aren’t tested or regulated, the medics didn’t know what was in them.
Ryan recalled his breaking point came when his boyfriend said: “One of these days, I’ll wake up and you’ll be dead in the bed next to me.”
As for his previous comments on tanning injections being available on the NHS, Ryan said: “I look at that now and I’m cringing. How can someone be so deluded to think the government should hand out tanning injections on the NHS?
“What sort of place must I have been in in my own head to think that was normal?
Ryan added: “For anybody watching now, I don’t want tanning injections on the NHS. I don’t want anyone to take these. Chuck them in the bin as it will be the worst thing you ever do. You’ll end up in hospital, orange or six-feet under. I do not condone these.”
This Morning’s Dr Zoe urged everyone to avoid products that haven’t been medically tested.
According to the NHS website, it is not legal to market or supply tanning injections in the UK as they have not been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
This Morning airs weekdays at 10.30am on ITV.
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