Dad’s the end of Tallafornia Phil’s wild days
Baby shock after First Dates return
TALLAFORNIA star Phil Penny says his wild days are over – as he prepares to become a dad.
The Dubliner, 33, is expecting a son with his 31-year-old partner Laura, who is due to give birth to baby Cameron at the Coombe Hospital today.
Phil, who once boasted he’d bedded over 100 women, revealed his good news just days before viewers get to see him on RTE’S First Dates for a second time.
He told the Irish Sunday Mirror: “Around the time of filming I was seeing Laura on and off. Shortly after filming the show we started taking it more seriously. Then we found out she was pregnant… we’re looking to get a place together.
“I think that I’ve matured now that I’m going to be a dad, it makes you grow up very fast.”
Phil came in for some flak after his drunken appearance on the hit show last year when he told his dinner date she had “a nice hoop” and “perky set of t**s”.
He said: “I was very bad last year. I got a lot of negative comments. I wanted to redeem myself, to do it alcohol-free this time and show people the real me. I was embarrassed about last year’s show. My mother wasn’t impressed. She rang me and said I made an idiot of myself. I felt like I let her down.
“But this time I’m hoping she’ll be 100% proud.”
There is less of swaggering telly sensation Phil this time and his date – Rachel, 30, from Wexford – has no complaints about his table manners.
Phil also told how he is still recognised for his days on Tallafornia and regularly gets asked for selfies even now – six years after the TV3 series ended. He added: “It was the biggest Irish reality show back in 2012 and 2013, but I don’t think Ireland was ready for how crazy it was. “A lot of people slagged it but it was pulling in 500,000 viewers, one of the first shows to beat the Late Late.” First Dates Ireland is on RTE Two on Thursday at 9.30pm. news@irishmirror.ie