CHEST TO IMPRESS
Bridgerton hunk Rege-Jean Page reveals he trained at 5am every day to keep his strength up for sex scenes
HE has gone from teen punk to screen hunk.
Now Rege-Jean Page, who has a new army of fans as the sexy star of Netflix’s Regency romp Bridgerton, is being tipped as the next James Bond.
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But taking on his current role came with a lot of pain — both in the gym and around the privates. Half Zimbabwean, half English Rege-Jean, 31, had to get seriously buff to play the dishy Duke of Hastings in the racy period drama — already watched by 63million people.
He said: “There’s a lot of physical activity involved, so I was on the full Rocky regime for it. I was up at 5am every day, going to the gym, meeting my trainer.
“He was horrible to me for an hour and a half every morning before the day started. I got my strength up just from surviving him. Luckily, the pretentious actor in me could justify that, because I always start building a character from what their physical language is. But you are also serving the audience in a genre that is about fantasy and glamour.”
We revealed on Monday how Netflix is battling to keep steamy clips from the ten-part drama off porn sites.
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Throughout the series, which debuted last month, Rege-Jean’s Simon Basset is seen romping with wife Daphne Bridgerton, played by Phoebe Dynevor — daughter of Sally Dynevor, Corrie’s Sally Metcalfe.
On the first day he and Daphne worked together, Rege-Jean had to simulate a sex act while filming in the library of London’s Reform Club, a private members’ club that had only just started letting in women.
In later scenes they explore numerous positions in various locations, almost always involving Rege-Jean stripping off. And preserving his modesty meant lots of sticky tape around his private parts, resulting in a makeshift Brazilian every time it was removed.
Rege-Jean said: “It’s less comfortable the fewer clothes you are wearing because the bits you don’t see tend to be ‘taped in’. The least-clothed scenes usually involve more tape. When the tape comes off, that is not a pleasant time.”
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Almost as painful was telling his relatives they should expect to see him stripping off on screen. With a British preacher for a dad and a Zimbabwean nurse for a mum, Rege-Jean has extended family in both countries. And he managed to alert them all . . . except one.
He said: “There’s a family WhatsApp group which flashes a red light. It’s like, ‘Episode five, bleep-bleep-bleep!’ But we missed one of my cousins and she sent me a message saying, ‘I had to make so many tactical cups of tea during the show, but then I came back and you were still going! So I had to go put the kettle back on’.
“To be fair, you can’t really faze my family because if you come up through theatre, you see stuff. They don’t even blink now.” While laughing off rumours of an off-screen romance with his leading lady, Rege-Jean has kept tight-lipped about his private life.
But in one interview he said: “I want to break down the boundaries of what is considered normal and do away with labels — gay, straight, brown, white.”
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The third of four siblings, Rege-Jean knows a lot about breaking down boundaries. He left London as a youngster to live in Zimbabwe. And as a mixed-race child in a country where interracial marriages were still frowned upon, life was not easy. Rege-Jean said: “I learned from the age of three that I was a walking political statement.
“Just by walking around with my face, I was saying, ‘My parents did a fairly revolutionary thing that p***es off some of you’. You learn that how you act associates you with certain groups. I remember there was a really nice nursery school fairly close to us. My mum took me along and there wasn’t enough room. Then my dad took me along — and there WAS enough room.”
He was 14 when the family moved back to London, and with tons of pent-up adolescent anger, he dyed his hair green and formed a punk band with his younger brother.
Rege-Jean said: “What else are you going to do as a teenager? You’re going to scream at people one way or another. You might as well do it in a productive way.”
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It also helped inspire his love of being on stage, which was further developed at a Saturday school for performing arts. He said: “We would do an hour of dancing, an hour of acting and an hour of singing.
"It’s basically childcare — get my loud, attention-seeking child out of my hair for three hours. I was loud and attention-seeking enough that they put me on their agency on the side. Once every two years I’d get a job, make a little money and that would pay for my Game Boy. One of those roles was in BBC’s Casualty.”
Parts followed in Channel 4 comedy Fresh Meat in 2013 and BBC1’s Waterloo Road two years later. But his big breakthrough came with 2016 US series Roots. That led to a regular role on US legal drama For The People, made by the same producers behind Bridgerton.
When they came to him with a radical plan to adapt Julia Quinn’s Bridgerton novels with a diverse cast, he was thrilled NOT to be cast on a “colour-blind” basis.
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Rege-Jean said: “I don’t think it helps when folks say they don’t see colour. Please do. Because if you don’t, you don’t see me. What you’re saying isn’t that you don’t see colour, it’s that you’ve chosen to ignore it. And that means you’ve chosen to ignore me.”
With his new fame and sexy looks, it is not surprising Rege-Jean is now a favourite to take over from Daniel Craig as 007, which would make him the first non-white Bond. Bookies slashed his odds to 12-1 — ahead of The Night Manager’s Tom Hiddleston, 39, and Poldark pin-up Aidan Turner, 37.
He said: “If you’re a Brit and you do something of any renown that people regard well, people start saying the B-word. It’s like a merit badge. You get the B-word merit badge. I’m very glad to have the badge.”
- Bridgerton is streaming on Netflix now.
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GLAM UP, REGENCY STYLE
WITH its swoon-worthy settings and glamorous costumes, it’s no wonder we all fancy a bit of Bridgerton in our lives.
Since the show launched last month there has been a flurry of interest in Regency clothes, luxury interiors and sprawling mansions fit for a duke Amy Jones rounds up some of the trends inspired by the series.
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1800s GLAMOUR: Viewers have been keen to splash out on the upper-class fashions of the era, according to data from British search engine Lyst. Over the past few weeks, searches for corsets shot up by 123 per cent and those for pearl headbands rose by 49 per cent. Social media has been flush with people sharing their Bridgerton-inspired looks. TikTok user Asta Darling has even recreated dresses from the series.
HOME DECOR: The sumptuous settings have boosted demand for opulent interiors. Once considered dated, the sleigh bed has seen a steep rise in popularity, according to bed specialist Time4Sleep. Meanwhile, wisteria plants have soared in popularity on eBay, with a 300 per cent increase in searches. Also up on eBay are antique chairs (28 per cent) and plinths (16 per cent).
SONGWRITING: Singer Abigail Barlow is writing a musical based on Bridgerton, with her songs receiving millions of plays on TikTok. Daphne’s Song tells the story of the eldest daughter of the clan, while duet Burn For You is based on the main love story. Other viewers have joined in on the fun by posting their own versions of the songs.
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BABY NAMES: There is sure to be a spike in Bridgerton-inspired names, say experts at baby store website Bella Baby. It has compiled a list of names popular during the Regency period, including Bridget, Cressida, Violet, Hyacinth . . . and Nigel.
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RESPECTABALE HOBBIES: The pastimes of Bridgerton’s “accomplished” young women are inspiring viewers to follow suit. Demand for embroidery hoops has fuelled a 65 per cent rise in eBay searches. And afternoon tea sets have seen a 42 per cent increase.
PLUSH PROPERTY: A surge in demand for Georgian-style homes has been r eported by property search engine Zoopla. One of the most viewed houses in the UK is now the Bridgerton-style Village Farm just outside Bath, where the series was filmed. Set on 25 acres, you would need £2.5million to bag it though.
Bridgerton co-stars Phoebe Dyvenor and Rege-Jean Page awkwardly swerve romance question after off-screen dating rumours
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