All smiles - the dentist now in Cheshire TV set
LATEST STAR OF REAL HOUSEWIVES TALKS ABOUT HER NEW LIFE ON REALITY SHOW
SHE’S one of the newest Real Housewives of Cheshire - and dentist Hanna Miraftab has already made a big impact with viewers while ruffling feathers among her co-stars.
Hanna joined the eighth series after her doctor fiancé Martin Kinsella had already appeared on the hit ITVBe reality show, which follows the lives of wealthy and glamorous women living in Cheshire.
Welcoming us into their plush apartment in Bowdon, the couple opened up about what it’s like to be on the show and how it has changed their lives.
“I’m a dentist. I’ve not had any sort of television experience or training in media ever in my life so it’s a complete new world. It’s nuts,” said Hanna, who runs a dental practice in St Helens.
“One of Martin’s patients is Lauren Simon off the programme and she’s been friends with him for years. Last series they approached him to do a non-surgical facelift on her so Martin was on the show, and he bloody loved it. He loves it more than me. So he was on the show and he was doing a thread lift, it was a real success and before I knew it I got a casting camera in the house and three or four weeks later ‘here’s the contract.’”
The couple had met Nermina Pieters-Mekic, the wife of Stoke City footballer Erik Pieters, artist Stacey Forsey and Forever Unique fashion boss Seema Malhotra before but had never met the other stars of the show.
Hanna, who joined this series with yoga instructor Perla Navia, said: “Obviously I went in with Perla, but they all know each other and a lot have known each other for years so there’s already very strong friendships so you’re going into this sort of group of friends. It was very daunting at first.
“There’s no script. Lots of people always ask me ‘is it real?’ and it is real. It’s your own words and it’s you. You’re playing yourself. It’s not fake in any way. It’s like real life in a pressure cooker.
“It’s been a rollercoaster of emotion with its ups and downs. It’s important to have someone supportive by your side and Martin has been amazing through it. Sometimes you do feel on your own, especially when a lot of the girls are disagreeing with you. You feel like you’re the only one standing your ground.”
Hanna grew up in Bolton before her family moved to Wilmslow when she was a teenager. She studied dentistry at Liverpool University where she first met Martin, who co-star Seema has turned to this series over concerns that she’s going through the menopause.
It wasn’t until 12 years on that the former uni friends had a chance meeting in a bar in London and love blossomed last year.
They moved in together in February into a renovated apartment within a former mansion in Bowdon. They are planning their wedding for next September, although they’re yet to decide if their nuptials will feature on the show.
Asked if the show has changed her life Hanna said: “Yes and no. Yes in a sense in that obviously now I’m on television and you immediately overnight become a public figure and people have got opinions on you and your life and your fiancé and your mum and your choice of wedding dress.
“But we’re still ourselves. we haven’t changed as people.”