LEAVING the country to get away from the dating game may seem a tad extreme – but that’s what Vanessa Feltz hopes to do when her stint on Celebs Go Dating hits TV screens next week.
The TalkTV presenter has begun to play the field again, on the E4 show, following her split from cheating fiancé Ben Ofoedu earlier this year.
But she is not sure she can face watching her efforts as CGD, and its team of dating agents, return for a 12th season.
She said of filming the reality show: “I have liked dipping my toe in the dating pool again, having not done it for 17 years.
“I have built up more courage with each date.
“But I have never watched back a date or seen any footage.
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“I will be on holiday, I hope, when it airs, and I will be quite pleased to be out of the country.”
Devastated Vanessa announced her split from singer Ben in January after discovering he had cheated when her daughter received a message from his mistress.
The pair had been engaged since 2006.
It means that Vanessa has joined the E4 dating show at her most raw, as she strikes out alone at the age of 61.
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She said: “After all these years of reality TV, you’d think I would manage some kind of facade by now.
“When something is happening to me on TV, you can see what my real emotions are.
“Even if I am assuming I have hidden it, I haven’t, so it has been an emotional journey.”
If there has been one positive to come out of the experience, though, Vanessa admits it has made her a little less picky about dates.
She explained: “I have broadened out a bit. One of the things that the agents have said is, ‘Don’t write people off on sight. Give them a bit of a chance. And they are right!”
The new CGD series runs Sunday to Thursday for four weeks.
MARK Francis-Vandelli was born into the wrong era when it comes to dating, it seems.
The Made In Chelsea star and CGD contestant admits: “Dating apps are not for me. I loathe technology.
“I don’t read any messages from anyone online that I don’t know. I live in the 18th century! If I could I’d go back in time . . . ”
ANNA GOES FOR HAPPY ENDINGS
WHEN Celebs Go Dating comes to the end of a series, it doesn’t mean the end of the hard work for one of the show’s dating agents, Anna Williamson.
Instead, she is kept on her toes for weeks as she coaches the celebs towards happy endings.
Many of the big names become so reliant on her, she has revealed that they stay in touch after filming ends.
Anna, whose fellow agents on the show are Dr Tara Suwinyattich-Aiporn and Paul Carrick Brunson, said: “I have 60 per cent of Celebs Go Dating alumni in regular touch, and other celebs from reality shows.”
In recent series, the celebs have been allowed to pair up with their screen peers, and Anna added: “When it comes to celeb-on-celeb, they are consensual adults, so we have all decided to lean into any-thing that might spark.
“Look at the last series, with Laura Anderson and Gary Lucy.
“They may no longer be in a relationship but there was a lot of love – and a baby is about to come into this world.
“We are just leaning into any chemistry – we will support and guide it appropriately.”
COMIC Spuddz says Richard Blackwood was behind his rise to fame after hearing him crack jokes in a barber shop.
The Celebs Go Dating contestant said: “Mid-trim he was like, ‘Who’s making me laugh like this? What’s your name?’
“He took me to my first show, and I began to perform stand-up from there.”
But he has no wish to date a celeb. He prefers “a normal person.”
LOVE Island star Chloe Burrows found fame looking for love on prime time TV, but admits ahead of CGD that she is still terrified of opening up to a potential partner.
Even undergoing counselling after her stint on the ITV2’s Love Island in 2021 hasn’t helped.
She said: “ITV were really supportive with therapy, and then I got my own.
“But I don’t get into the nitty gritty.
“Celebs Go Dating will be the first time I have spoken about my relationships.
“On Love Island, I managed to get away without talking about it.
“I’m nervous about that, I am not one to talk about my problems or emotions.”
LOTTIE IN RUSH TO FIND HOTTIE
LOTTIE Moss is already feeling the pressure to settle down, although the CGD single is just 25.
The influencer, and younger sister of supermodel Kate, feels the anxiety from seeing the likes of 26-year-old mum-of-two Kylie Jenner online.
Lottie said: “Back in the day, before social media, you didn’t really care.
“Now, because you see Kylie Jenner at 23 being a billionaire and having two babies, it is like, ‘Where the f*** are my kids? Where’s my man or my billions?’.
“But it doesn’t happen that quickly.
“I have not found a person I want to commit to . . . maybe because I have been in the wrong place in my mind, but maybe it doesn’t happen that often.
“I want to sit and talk to someone, to know everything about them. But I can’t seem to commit.”
Yet she admitted: “I need constant attention, I need you at my beck and call.”
AD ADMITS FOUL PLAY
SHOW contestant Adam Collard has a reputation as a player – and the two-time Love Islander has now admitted just how badly he toyed with one poor girlfriend.
Adam once posed for an Instagram shot with an attractive woman just to make his girlfriend at the time jealous.
He said: “I got posted with a girl on Instagram – but it was my cousin. The person I was seeing, they got too jealous.
“I was happy it came out, it was a test.”
One of his longest relationships – with newly unveiled Strictly star Zara McDermott – came from ITV2’s Love Island in 2018, but they split after eight months.
Adam added: “I have been horrendous when single, I will hold my hands up. I once dated five girls.
“There have only been a couple of girls – Zara and a girl when I was younger – I was fully committed to.”
CGD dating agent Paul Carrick Brunson has teased some big format shake-ups for the new series.
It will see “recoupling situations” for the first time, where the stars can juggle potential matches at special brunches instead of just dating one-on-one.
Paul said: “At first I was thinking, ‘I don’t know about this’.
“But now I have seen it play out, I think this works well.
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“Elsewhere, we are doing home visits. We will go and hang out with the celeb in their environment.”
He added of the series: “It is very fast-paced.”
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