Rylan Clark-Neal has said his recent visit to a youth club in Essex will spur him on during his upcoming 24-hour charity challenge.

The presenter, 31, will be singing karaoke for 24 hours to raise money for BBC Children In Need.

Ahead of the challenge he visited a Triple T youth club, which is a weekly club provided by the Southend Association of Voluntary Services (Turning Tides).

Rylan Clark-Neal
Rylan Clark-Neal will be doing karaoke for 24 hours for BBC Children in Need (BBC)

He said: “It was amazing and do you know what, I didn’t actually think about this when I signed up to do this.

“I didn’t really think that I would need that, but actually visiting the project and meeting all the kids and volunteers and speaking to them and understanding how much this money impacts their lives, when I am sort of dying at four o’ clock in the morning trying to garble together a song I know what I’m doing it for now”.

During his visit he took part in some arts and crafts and also participated in a few games including Hungry Hippos and Dodgeball.

The Southend Association of Voluntary Services (Turning Tides) is one of the projects funded by Children in Need.

It benefits from a three-year grant to provide three weekly Triple T clubs for disadvantaged young people in Southend.

Radio 2 DJ Clark-Neal will also be joined by a few famous faces during his singing challenge.

The challenge follows a 24-hour danceathon done by Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman for Comic Relief last year, but Clark-Neal said he will not be asking them for advice.

He said: “My training is to forget about it because if I think about it too much… I remember I spoke to Tess and Claudia when they did the 24-hour danceathon for Comic Relief and they are two people I will not talk to about this because I know they will probably talk me out of it!”

The karaoke challenge begins at the end of the Zoe Ball Breakfast show 9am on November 12 and will take place at Radio 2’s studios in London.

It will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 and BBC Sounds, and streamed live on the BBC Red Button, where viewers will be able to see Clark-Neal and his guests performing.

The It Takes Two presenter added: “At the moment I have no idea what songs I’ll be singing, or who will be joining me on the day, or what outfits I’ll be wearing – I’m being kept in the dark for the moment and it’s all a surprise. 

“But my go to karaoke song would have to be Craig David Fill Me In – so let’s hope that one comes up! My absolute dream karaoke duet partners would be all five of the Spice Girls, obviously – but to be honest I usually sing with whoever is willing to take me!”.