Not your average celebrity travelogue

My first misapprehension on encountering Rob and Rylan’s Grand Tour was that Rob Beckett had ditched his typical TV travelling companion, Romesh Ranganathan, and paired up with Rylan Clark as an alternative. But it surely rapidly transpired that this “Rob” was the altogether much less geezerish barrister-turned-broadcaster Robert Rinder.

The second misapprehension was that this was going to be one other of these mildly entertaining however typically vapid two-celebs-on-a-jaunt reveals. As an alternative, I used to be pleasantly shocked by these odd-couple travelling companions.

Their relationship appeared hotter and extra real than most purported superstar “friendships”. Rylan – such is the ability of his persona that calling him Clark doesn’t really feel proper – referred to as Rinder “babe”, they usually weren’t shy of a hug. And their sort of “grand tour” was very totally different to the Jeremy Clarkson number of touchdown in varied places to stage motoring challenges.

This was an try and recreate the cultural odyssey undertaken by aristocratic younger Britons of the 17^th and 18^th centuries, when youthful toffs could be packed off to Europe within the firm of a tutor to immerse themselves in classical antiquity and the Renaissance.

There was little question about who was going to be the tutor right here, for as Rinder quipped about Rylan: “He doesn’t know his arts from his elbow.” Their first stopover of three was Venice (with Rome and Florence to return) , the place the pair’s respective roles have been established as Rinder gently glided to his 16^th century palazzo by gondola, whereas Rylan, all darkish glasses and whitened tooth, roared in by motorboat.

Their first cultural immersion was the Doge’s Palace, the place they have been afforded a non-public view of Tintoretto’s huge portray Paradise – and Rinder grew to become fairly tearful at his protégé’s appreciation. Rinder continued Rylan’s training (and indulged an apparently long-held ambition) by conducting an orchestra in Vivaldi’s The 4 Seasons within the church through which it was first carried out.

This Pygmalion-like relationship might have change into tiresome, however the roles have been neatly reversed when it got here to much less arty actions. The collection marks the 200^th anniversary of the dying of Lord Byron, whose escapades in Venice have been extra licentious than cultural. “Why ought to Byron have all of the enjoyable?” requested Rylan, who had already been eyeing up the passing gondoliers.

“I need to unbutton you and possibly you might simply do one among my buttons up,” Rylan prompt after Rinder admitted to being uptight (“We might kind the right shirt,” Rinder shot again). It was one among a number of insights into the presenters’ lives and characters. Whereas visiting a store promoting carnival masks, Rylan admitted that his persona was a masks. “At dwelling I’m Ross [he was born Ross Clark], whereas Rylan’s my job. Ross isn’t bruised… Rylan takes the battering,” he defined.

But it surely was Ross who took a battering in 2021, to the purpose of trying suicide, he stated, after the breakdown of his marriage. Rinder additionally underwent a painful divorce. Decided to maneuver on, they every went on a blind date – Rinder’s date, Fabio, turning out to be a drag queen.

And having been saddened by his pal’s want for a masks, Rinder now discovered himself liberated when persuaded they need to camouflage themselves in drag (he regarded like Pauline Fowler, stated Rylan, who had reworked right into a lifeless ringer for Eurovision’s Conchita Wurst). They then joined Fabio and his pals on a sashay right down to St Mark’s Sq..

Removed from being a cosily inclusive RuPaul-esque expertise, within the environment of Georgia Meloni’s hard-right ruled Italy, it was a small act of defiance. “Queer life in Venice is extraordinarily lowered,” defined Fabio – and certainly one onlooker shouted homophobic slurs. Most applauded, nonetheless. Simply this one brief sequence alone offered extra realism than most different superstar travelogues mixed.