Secrets of the CELEBS GO DATING FINALE
We go behind the scenes as the agency’s famous faces go on their endof-series vacay
What happens on tour, stays on tour, right? Not when we’re around. As another series of Celebs Go Dating reaches its climax, we’ve tagged along on the show’s end-of-series sojourn to the Dominican Republic, where this year’s batch of famous daters headed in search of sun, sea and everlasting soulmates. And from the moment we meet the eight knackered celebs bright and early at 6AM at Heathrow airport, you can tell their hopes are high. After all, what could be more glamorous or romantic than flying all the way to the Caribbean for a date? Answers on a postcard.
WE HAVE LIFT-OFF
Every year, the E4 show closes with the celeb daters picking a special “non-famous” someone to accompany them abroad, but this time, the producers have gone the extra mile, packing up their famous eight, plus nine “normals” (greedy Malique Thompsondwyer has brought two, er, lucky ladies along for the ride) and a 20-strong production crew to paradise. Unfortunately, our nine-hour Air France flight is already off to a turbulent start, after we find ourselves squeezed between TOWIE veterans Amy Childs and James “Lockie” Lock, who fell out three years ago after the latter called Amy “desperate”. A few red wines and some complementary snacks later,
they’ve kissed and made up, and we’re cruising happily at 36,000ft – which is more than can be said for Lockie’s “lucky” lady. “I made a mistake, she’s not a bit of me,” the infamous Lothario tells anybody who will listen when she’s out of earshot... not that it would stop him if she wasn’t.
Luckily for Lockie (and his soon-to-be jilted companion), the couples are kept away from each other when the cameras are off – the hope being that they save their romantic journey for the small screen. This is bad news for Joshua Ritchie and Olivia “Liv” Bentley’s dates, who are out of sight, out of mind while their love interests spend most of the trip flirting up a storm (despite the agency’s strict rules about inter-client dating). “I naturally just flirt with guys, I can’t seem to help it,” Liv tells us in a moment of candour. “Half the time, I just think I’m being funny, but they think I’m trying it on with them.” Liv’s actual date later gets
to join a different kind of mile-high club with the Made In Chelsea star, when they ride a zip wire together across the Punta Cana skyline. “I’m scared of falling in love and getting my heart broken,” Liv later tells us, having only recently ended her relationship with co-star Digby Edgley. “To be honest, I don’t know if I’m ready for love,” she adds. “The best thing about this experience has been finding me again.”
Indeed, “finding themselves” seems to be a key experience for all involved – Josh also confesses he joined the agency to “get back in the dating game, find my confidence and find myself again”, after a very bitter split from Geordie Shore star Charlotte Crosby. Then again, finding themselves is the least of Dean Gaffney and Malique’s problems – the pair have a hard enough time finding their way around the Hard
Rock Hotel’s sprawling, five-star complex (which includes 1,775 rooms, 23 bars, 20 shops and 13 swimming pools). Most days, it’s up to the production runners to make search-and-rescue missions for their celebrity clientele.
HITTING SOME TURBULENCE
The big question is, has love bloomed for ANY of our famous daters? Or were the efforts of dating gurus Paul C Brunson and Anna Williamson (who skipped the trip as she was heavily pregnant at the time) all in vain? Sadly, Amy Childs tells us she’s “having some doubts” about her holiday romance, despite adding, “He’s really fit and I do fancy him… I just attract wrong’uns, so I’m being cautious.”
Still, all hope isn’t lost. Step forward former Love Island star Amy Hart, who is back in her natural habitat, searching for the one in the sun. “My date is really sweet and lovely,” she tells us during a break from beachside filming. “We really get along and have lots of fun together, so who knows?” Ditto Alison Hammond, who tragically lost her mum Marie to cancer halfway through filming the show. “My date has been amazing with me,” she reveals. “We’ve really bonded, although I think we’re more like friends at the moment. But you never know – romances do blossom through friendship.” Happily, Cupid seemed to be smiling, as Alison has since declared her love for co-star Ben Kusi.
Overseeing the action is master of ceremonies Paul, who – as well as pairing the celebs
‘I just seem to attract wrong’uns’ Amy Childs
with a host of eligible singletons – spends most of the series counselling them and taking a “deep dive” into their innermost insecurities – not the easiest task when you’re working with TV personalities. “I think this year’s celebs have been on the biggest journey of self-discovery,” says Paul, as he takes a brief moment away from the high-octane drama of an on-screen beach party. “People want the celebs to find love by the end of the series, but it’s not really about that. It’s about giving them the tools to find love. There isn’t a six-week limit on it. It would be interesting to see them all a few years down the line and see then who is in loving relationships.”
SAFE LANDING
Well, if anyone can give us hope for some seriously happy endings, it’s the agency’s “junior client co-ordinator” (read: the team’s resident receptionist, confidante and ego-stroker) Tom Read Wilson, who spends most of his free time singing show tunes by the pool. “Good morning, good morning, sun beams will soon shine through. Good morning, good morning to you…” he trills – to a group of turtles swimming in the nearby river, like some kind of Caribbeanbased Mary Poppins.
Call us soppy, but the turtles give us encouragement that our hopeless celebs will find love some day. After all, most people may be hiding behind a tough outer shell, but everyone just wants to be loved in the end – and there’s always more fish in the sea. ■