Feature: Nicole O’Brien’s mating game s
Strong-willed Nicole O’Brien is single again and seeking love in a mystery setting. But will she win the dating game this time round?
REALITY TV star Nicole O’Brien is determined to prove that she is not Too Hot To Handle — despite some evidence to the contrary. The Cork beauty proved a sizzling sensation on Netflix’s breakout dating series Too Hot To Handle, the show where restraint and not overt passion gave couples a greater chance of winning the $100,000 prize.
And while she failed to find love on the hit show, Nicole is undeterred in her mission to find her ideal mate — and is preparing to enter the fray next month.
Nicole, 24, starred in the very first series of the show, in 2019.
She was matched with hunk Bryce Hirschberg, a quintessential beach-buffed, body-beautiful Californian, who hails from Marina Del Rey in the state.
He has the chiselled good looks that are to Nicole’s liking.
And she has said: ‘He wasn’t really my cuppa tea at the start. But getting to know him more and more, we formed a proper bond and connection.’
After spending a month living together with the shows other love-birds, Nicole and Bryce failed to spark up their relationship.
But, when away from the prying cameras, Nicole fell for Bryce’s cheeky-chappy Californian charm and they went public with their romance, some time after the show started airing.
But the Covid pandemic is tough on romance and the travel restrictions made it hard to keep the California-to-Cork connection alive, and long-distance love became too much of an effort.
An agent for Hirschberg revealed that the couple had ‘decided mutually to split’.
‘After the many failed attempts to reunite, due to quarantine and border restrictions, we decided that moving on and remaining friends would be our best option for the time being,’ Bryce said. ‘Nicole is so lovely and, if under less unusual circumstances, I’m sure that we could’ve had an amazing relationship. I wish her the best because she deserves it.’
However, soon afterwards the blonde beauty was linked to Love Island USA’s Cormac Murphy.
Nicole and Cormac met online, and after a virtual transatlantic flirt last summer, they jetted off to the Amalfi Coast in Italy.
But, alas the sun has also set on that relationship, leaving Nicole footloose and fancy free again and seeking romance.
Nicole has been living in London for the past few years but still has a rebel heart.
Statistically speaking, the odds of finding your true love on a reality show are slim to none but Nicole is made of sterner stuff.
‘A faint heart never won a fancy fella,’ she has said, and is off to a European hotspot this summer, seeking her soulmate.
‘I can’t say what it is but it’s another dating show, so fingers crossed I find the love of my life,’ she said.
‘It’s a celebrity version of a dating show. It’s being filmed somewhere in Europe, so I leave in couple of months time. I’m trying to be hopeful.’
However, she did drop one hint about the show, revealing that there will be an ex on the beach there too. But she didn’t say who that would be.
While clearly a reality show aficionado now, it hasn’t always been thus for her.
When she was just 20 Nicole was offered a chance on the show of shows, Love Island, but she turned it down after some cautionary advice from her parents.
‘I’ve always wanted to do television. I was offered Love Island when I was 20 years old but at the last minute, I decided not to do it, which I’ve always regretted,’ she said.
‘I think I was a bit young; I would have done something stupid; my parents were like “just finish your degree and then do TV”. I’ve always hated them for that,’ she laughed.
‘But everything happens for a reason and here I am now.’
After graduating from University College Cork with a degree in commerce, Nicole left for London, where she was given another chance at reality show fame, after just six months in the city.
‘I’ve always wanted to live in London, ever since I was young. So after I finished college, I got a job in sales, so I moved over.
‘I was there about six months before I got Too Hot To Handle, I
was working as a sales executive until then.
‘The Netflix show asked me to apply and I said “yep, 100%, I’ll definitely do it,” so I got it and I was buzzing.’
The show provided her with a global platform, as it was an instant hit for the streaming service and was broadcast in over 120 countries. Unlike some other dating shows, contestants are rewarded for maintaining a handsoff approach. The winner of the $100,000 is whoever has remained the most virtuous and, of course, most popular with the public at the series finale.
While she didn’t win, she said the show gave her a grá for telly.
‘It was crazy, we were there for a month filming. It was hard getting used to being filmed 24 hours a day, but you get used to it. So, I absolutely loved the whole experience. It gave me a lot of opportunities, so I am very grateful for that.’
Still looking for her ‘ideal man’, Nicole says he must be a mix of the Cork craic and Chelsea chic to win her over.
‘Lads who have that Irish banter, but are English in how they look and dress. My look is tall, tanned, tattooed, so a lot of the English lads look like that, but Irish banter, 100%.’
She also tells of some of the trouble she’s had with men.
‘My ideal man needs to be understanding of what I do for a job, be a bit of fun, a laugh, and someone who doesn’t use me; or who isn’t using me for followers or the like. That’s happened to me in the past, that’s a fear I have.
‘I have to try to be wary of people. I’ve had lads who I’ve been dating, and I’ve said I didn’t want anyone knowing about it, and they’ve called the press and things like that. But I think I’ve got my wits more about me now.’
Nicole is also set to release her debut single, with an international label, the label that has looked after artists such as Emeli Sandé.
‘I’m releasing a song in a few months time. It’s with this record label called Senajay,’ she said.
‘It’s a dance track, that’s the vibe I’m going for not ballads.
‘I’ve been into music since I was about five years old, my family are really musical, we all sing together. My dad plays every instrument going, so do my mam and sisters so when I go home, it’s a mad house. I’m buzzing to be doing music now.’
If she is picky about men she is downright choosy when it comes to what brands she works with as an influencer.
Nicole was snapped up by celebrity dental care brand Polished London.
The vegan dental care firm signed her up because of her winning smile and charm that make a perfect match.
‘I’m very, very picky with what brands I work with. I don’t just work with brands that come to me,’ she said.
‘Polished was actually one of the brands I worked with when I was in sales. So, it’s a brand I know, and I believe in and that I use. I know some influencers just take everything going. I don’t believe in that. My audience is young and they’re impressionable, so I don’t want to be pushing anything on them that I don’t love or believe in myself.’
‘My man just has to have the Cork banter, 100%’