Celebs Go Dating: meet the latest unlucky-in-love stars
We all need a little help in love… especially these famous folk
Look lively, boys and girls. It’s time to flex your very best chat-up lines, because Celebs Go Dating is back. And this latest crop of would-be romancers are more hapless – and hopeless – than ever, bless ’em. Already we’ve seen TOWIE legend Amy Childs and Made In Chelsea regular Olivia “Liv” Bentley square up over the same man; Dean Gaffney get pied off on his quest for a date, and TOWIE’S James “Lockie” Lock engage in the most sordid eye sex we’ve ever seen. Yes, as the latest recruits – who also include I’m A Celeb’s Malique Thompson-dw yer, This Morning’s Alison Hammond, Love Island’s Amy Hart and reality star Charlotte Dawson (who’s back for a bit of couples counselling with boyfriend Matthew Sarsfield) – tell heat it’s been a rollicking ride.
“I haven’t really ever dated before, so it was mortifying,” says Liv, who split with her MIC boyfriend Digby Edgley a month before joining the agency. “I was sweating like something else. But I think I learnt more about dating and myself in relationships. I’d never go back inside the Chelsea bubble.” Amy C – who’s making her triumphant return to reality TV after having her two-year-old daughter Polly and one-year-old son – agrees it was a massive jump into the deep end. “Any boy I meet has got to be with me, but he’s also got to love my kids,” she says. “Going dating is hard, but we come as a package. It’s us three together and that’s the main thing.” As for her apparent rivalry with Liv, Amy insists (maybe a bit too much) that “we’re really good friends”, before adding, “We like the same guys, so good luck, hun.”
As for Amy H, we’re dying to know how her second foray into
reality dating compares to her last attempts to find love on screen. “The people are nicer!” she jokes.
“No, it’s different, because you get to go home at night. You’re not stuck in a house with people you don’t know. It’s more of a journey and you can get feedback , rather than come out at the end of it all and say, ‘What did I just do?’” Speaking of a “journey” – the show’s dating agents are notorious for taking their celebrity clients on a “deep dive” into their emotions to identify any baggage. So, how did Amy fare? “I was so nervous and reserved going into it, because I’m not a dater – no one ever asks me out,” she says. “But Paul [Carrickbrunson, the show’s smoother-than-smooth agent] called my self-doubt ‘Chicken Little’. He said that every time I’d go into a situation, Chicken Little would come and say I wasn’t good enough. But instead of just pushing Chicken Little away, I had to acknowledge him and tell him to go away.”
On the topic of birds, Lockie says he too had the requisite voyage of self-discovery. “I’ve learnt there are two sides to me – one’s Lockie the party boy, and one’s James. Believe it or not, I’ve got a sensitive side.” The big question is, did the agents have a name for Lockie’s alter-ego à la Chicken Little? Big Cock, for instance? ■
‘Believe it or not, I’ve got a sensitive side’ Lockie
Celebs Go Dating airs on E4, times vary