Alex Hassell Rejects Silly Diets for Rupert Role

alex hassell said he does not do “silly diets” to get into shape for Rupert Campbell-Black in Rivals. The actor, speaking as the series returned, said he works with a trainer but will not chase extreme standards for the role.

“I don’t do any silly diets – I think it’s dangerous to set those standards for young men,” Hassell said in a Radio Times interview with co-star Bella Maclean. “When you take on a role that people really care about, it’s nerve-wracking.”

Rupert and the book fans

Jilly Cooper fans complained when Hassell was cast that he did not look like the Rupert described in the books, but he said the producers thought there was some innate Rupert-ness that he could capture. Hassell also said Cooper’s endorsement made him feel more confident, which turned a casting dispute into part of the show’s launch pressure rather than a side note.

Hassell said Rupert is supposed to look “statuesque and heroic,” and he initially felt intimidated reading scenes where the character enters a room and everyone swoons. He later found the day-to-day work easier to carry because “spending the day with people pretending to find me the most attractive man in the world, is fun.”

200 people in the screening room

200 people watched Hassell simulate sex at a screening, and he said the weirdness has not gone away. He was blunt about the standard the role creates: he does his best with a trainer before filming, but he will not build Rupert Campbell-Black around a crash diet. That leaves the production leaning on performance and image rather than the kind of physical regimen that often becomes the headline.

“Sex can and should be fun,” Hassell said, adding that a lot of the sex in Rivals is fun. He also said he still finds watching himself in those scenes strange, which is exactly the sort of candid note that keeps the conversation on the work instead of the polish.

Series two and The Chicken Song

Series two gave Hassell one of his favourite moments: Rupert dancing to The Chicken Song. “That’s one of my favourites,” he said, adding that the song was originally sung by Emily Atack’s mum and that she is in the scene. He said Atack’s mum gropes him on the dance floor, a reminder that the show is still leaning into the same cheeky, high-wire tone that made the casting debate worth paying attention to in the first place.