Mark Rhodes

For other uses, see Mark Rhodes (disambiguation).

Mark Thomas Rhodes (born 11 September 1981) is an English singer and television presenter, best known as one half of Sam & Mark, the other being Sam Nixon.

Mark Rhodes
Rhodes in 2022
Born	Mark Thomas Rhodes (1981-09-11) 11 September 1981 Darlaston, Walsall, England
Occupations	Singer television presenter
Years active	2003–present
Known for	Pop Idol Top of the Pops Reloaded TMi Copycats Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up
Spouse	Harriet Wilson ​ (m. 2012)​
Children	2

Career

Born in Wolverhampton, England, Rhodes finished in second place in the second series of Pop Idol in the United Kingdom, as runner-up to Michelle McManus. After Pop Idol, he teamed up with third-place Sam Nixon, releasing two singles under the name Sam & Mark. In February 2004, their cover of the song "With a Little Help from My Friends" reached number 1 in the UK singles chart, remaining there for one week. Their second single 'The Sun Has Come Your Way" reached 19 in the singles chart. The pair were subsequently encouraged by manager Simon Fuller to pursue a career in TV.

Rhodes went on to co-present Top of the Pops Reloaded with Nixon and Fearne Cotton in 2004. From April 2006, Rhodes co-hosted the weekday children's breakfast show Level Up on BBC Two alongside Nixon and Ayesha Asantewaa. Level Up finished its first series in September 2006.

In September 2006, Rhodes began presenting BBC Two's Saturday morning show TMi alongside Nixon and Caroline Flack. He had his own short segment on the show called "Question Mark", a feature where he tried to answer viewers' questions, but Flack and Nixon talked through it. In later series, Flack left and the show moved to Fridays. The show's final episode aired on 17 December 2010. He also co-presented Do Something Different with Nixon and Ayesha Asantewaa. Nixon and Rhodes produced a children's reality series, Who Wants to Be a Superhero? and Sam and Mark's Guide to Dodging Disaster.

In 2009, Rhodes co-presented the show Skate Nation on BBC Two. He presented a Total Wipeout Celebrity Special, which aired on 2 January 2010. Rhodes fell at the quarter-final stage, losing out to eventual winner Danielle Lloyd. They subsequently took part in two episodes of Hole in the Wall, airing on 11 October 2008 and 14 November 2009.

Rhodes competed in the 2012 series of Dancing on Ice. He was eliminated by the judges on 22 January after a skate-off with Dallas actress Charlene Tilton.

Sam & Mark were the hosts of family CBBC family game show Copycats.

In 2024 Rhodes began presenting a Saturday morning show on BBC Radio WM.

Awards and nominations

BAFTA Best Children’s Presenter

Winner:

2013 (Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up)

2015 (Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up)

Nominations:

2007, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2019

BAFTA Best Children's Entertainment Show

Winner:

2016 (Sam and Mark's Big Friday Wind Up)

Nominations:

2014, 2015 and 2016

RTS North West Awards Best Entertainment Show

Winner:

2015 (Sam and Mark’s Big Friday Wind Up)

2021 (Crackerjack)

Nominations:

2013, 2015 and 2021

Arqiva Commercial Radio Awards Best Newcomer:

Nomination:

2011

Personal life

Rhodes attended Darlaston Comprehensive High School in Darlaston in the West Midlands. Rhodes splits his time between his house in St Margarets, London, and his family house in Wolverhampton, where he is regularly seen scrumping apples in the village of Wombourne.

He got engaged in March 2011 and married his girlfriend Harriet Wilson on 2 June 2012. They now have a daughter, Scarlett and a son, Teddy, born at the end of April 2016.

Rhodes is a Wolverhampton Wanderers fan and played on the All Stars side at Matt Murray's testimonial match in 2011. He also played in Jody Craddock's testimonial match as part of a Wolves XI at Molineux in 2014.

Pop Idol 2 performances

Week	Theme	Song Choice	Original Artist	Result
Top 50		"She's Like The Wind"	Patrick Swayze	20.3% (2/10)
Top 12	Your Pop Idol	"With Or Without You"	U2	Bottom 3
Top 10	Birthyear Songs	"Imagine"	John Lennon	Safe
Top 8	Elton John Songs	"Something About The Way You Look Tonight"	Elton John	Safe
Top 7	Disco	"More Than A Woman"	Bee Gees	Bottom 3
Top 6	The Beatles	"Help!"	The Beatles	Bottom 3
Top 5	Big Band	"Have You Met Miss Jones?"	Frank Sinatra	Safe
Top 4	Christmas Songs	"Merry Christmas Everybody"	Slade	Bottom 2
		"Blue Christmas"	Elvis Presley
Top 3	Judges' Choice	"Back For Good"	Take That	Safe
		"If You Don't Know Me By Now"	Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Final	Contestant's Choice	"She's Like The Wind"	Patrick Swayze	Runner-up
	B Side	"Measure of a Man"	Clay Aiken
	Winner's Single	"All This Time"	To be released by the winner. The eventual winner was Michelle McManus

Filmography

Year	Title	Notes
2003	Pop Idol	Contestant
2004–2006	Top of the Pops Reloaded	Co-presenter
2006	Level Up	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2006–2010	TMi	Main presenter with Sam Nixon and Caroline Flack
2007	Do Something Different	Main presenter
2008	SMart	Guest presenter
2008	Sam and Mark's Guide to Dodging Disaster	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2009	Who Wants to Be a Superhero?	Main presenter
2009	Skate Nation	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2010	Jump Nation	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2010–2016	Copycats	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2011–2014	Comic Relief Does Glee Club	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2011–2019	Sam & Mark's Big Friday Wind-Up	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2012	Dancing on Ice	Contestant
2014–2015,2018	The Dog Ate My Homework	Contestant; 3 episodes
2015–2016	Junior Bake Off	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2016-2017	Match of the Day: Can You Kick It	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2017	Ready or Not	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2020-2021	Crackerjack	Main presenter with Sam Nixon
2022	The One Show	VT Presenter
2022	The All Star Games for Sport Relief	Contestant

Discography

Singles

as Sam & Mark

• "With a Little Help from My Friends" (February 2004)
• "The Sun Has Come Your Way" (May 2004)

See also

• Sam & Mark
• Sam Nixon
• Wombourne

External links

• Mark Rhodes at IMDb