When a girl does get a date, you want to make sure she is treated well...
It’s time to let the arrow see the bow as Paddy McGuinness returns to play Cupid on ITV dating show Take Me Out. MARION McMULLEN checks out his top dating tips for booking a romantic trip to the island of Fernando’s
What’s your perfect night in?
DEFINITELY at home, the kids in bed, telly on and probably watching something like I’m A Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! with my wife on the couch.
Do you enjoy playing Cupid on ITV’s Take Me Out?
WHAT’S amazing about Take Me Out is we’ve had seven engagements, five weddings – soon to be six – and three kids.
It’s unbelievable. As well as being an entertainment show, people get married and go on to have families... all from meeting on a TV show.
Why is the show so popular?
IT REMINDS me of shows I used to watch as a kid, like the Generation Game that you could watch with your parents.
Take Me Out has the same sensibility.
Students will watch it, your aunties and uncles, nans, grandads, mums, dads and kids.
It goes right across the board and I think that’s why it does so well.
Has dating changed since the show was first aired?
IT SEEMS to be more of a business now, everywhere you look there’s a dating app or a dating website.
One thing I’m proud of with Take Me Out is not only the success it’s had around the world, but also that we’ve put dating shows back into people’s consciousness.
What did you say when the TV Times asked you which screen relationship works best?
PETER KAY and Sian Gibson as Car Share’s John Redmond and Kayleigh Kitson. The reason this ‘couple’ works is because Peter and Sian are really good friends and that relationship comes through on-screen. If Peter did this show with an actress he’d never met before, it wouldn’t be half of what it is now.
I actually did my first ever kissing scene on telly with Sian. It was in Phoenix Nights.
We were both so nervous and I just remember thinking ‘This is the least erotic thing I’ve ever done.’
What can viewers expect in the new series of Take Me Out?
THIS series they are a really nice mix of girls who are very forthright and straight to the point.
It makes my job easier when the girls are good talkers and give honest answers. If a girl gives good answers I sometimes leave the stage thinking ‘I’ll be gutted when she gets a date!’
But when they do get a date you become like a father figure and want to make sure she gets treated well.
Any dating tips for the lads on the show?
WE’VE a model, a circus performer and a football coach looking to find love in the new series. Chat up lines don’t go well with the girls. The goodlooking lads may well do well in the first round but, if they haven’t got good personalities, the girls will turn their lights off.
Are the single ladies quick to go for the no likey, no lighty option?
THAT’S the beauty of having 30 girls because girls will say ‘he’s good looking, but I don’t like what he says’. Whereas if you had 30 guys and a goodlooking girl came out, it wouldn’t matter what she said they’d just leave their lights on! She’s breathing, she’s got a pulse – that’s men for you. We’re very simple creatures. Take Me Out starts tonight on ITV at 7pm.