Following on from the first ever virtual series, which saw the likes of Shaughna Phillips, Pete Wicks and Chloe Ferry meet their matches through video calls and socially distanced dates, Celebs Go Dating returns for a brand new series tonight – and there’s yet another twist.
The latest cast of celeb singletons will all be living together in luxury £30million mansion in Surrey as they look for love and get coached by dating experts Anna Williamson and Paul Carrick Brunson.
To celebrate the return of E4's flagship dating show to our telly boxes, we take a look at some facts you definitely didn't know about the show.
CHECK OUT seven things you definitely didn't know about Celebs Go Dating
Celebs Go Dating FACTS
1 of 7Some of the couples DO work out
Contrary to popular belief, off screen some of the couples do keep the flame alive. "The celebs are really busy and have really busy lives difficult for non celebs to keep up with," dating expert Anna Williamson told us."I'm not saying it's a hard life, but it is a busy one, and it can be very difficult where there's distance involved and busy work commitments."A lot of them do work out though, I promise you."
2 of 7Anna, Paul and Tom have a Whatsapp group
Their on-screen chemistry is no sham - Anna told us that she and fellow staffers Paul Carrick-Brunson and Tom Read-Wilson get on like a house on fire and have a super active Whatsapp group. "We have a Whatsapp group called Team PAT – Paul, Anna, Tom," she told us.
3 of 7Receptionist Tom does actually speak like that
Another nugget delivered by Anna is that fantastically flamboyant Tom, who is classically trained and appeared on The Voice in 2016, is actually that posh."And Tom does speak like that, he literally does! He is not an act, that is 100% him."
4 of 7All the dates are chosen by the crew
The celeb daters really are at the whim of producers, with all the dates and scenarios decided by the crew. "We set up the scenarios but what the talent decide to do within that remit is up to them," said Anna.
5 of 7And the celebs often take advantage of the booze situation
Unlike Love Island, there's no two-drink-limit on Celebs Go Dating and we've been treated to plenty of drunk celebs on screen.Anna said, "Often we will say 'don't get drunk, don't drink too much,' but they do anyway. They all drink a lot, a hell of a lot."We aren't going to sit there nannying them – they're grown ups and they can do what they want."
6 of 7Daters are heavily vetted
Every precaution is taken to make sure members of the public applying for the show are genuinely looking for love, rather than five minutes of fame. Former agent Eden Blackman previously said, "We can tell from the daters' social media if they're in it for real reasons or to be on TV for their 15 minutes of fame," he tells the BBC."The show has a huge team that interviews the daters and we have a conversation with them, asking all sorts of questions."
7 of 7Some celebs actually ASK to be on the show, rather than being cast
In a 2017 interview, Eden said, "I'm getting asked on Twitter by celebs how they can be a part of it."They have to invest in the process and listen to me and Nadia without five managers telling them what to do. We needed to fill a certain amount of places and people like Steph Pratt (from Made in Chelsea) and Joey Essex (from TOWIE) were great additions."
WATCH 'I Never Slept With Them, Have You?': We can't believe Shaughna asked Pete this! | Dating Dilemmas
The line-up for Celebs Go Dating: The Mansion is packed full of our reality TV faves including Geordie Shore’s Chloe Ferry, Love Island’s Curtis Pritchard and Made in Chelsea’s Sophie Hermann. Also taking part in the show are Wayne Lineker, DJ Tom Zanetti, Coronation Street actress Kimberley Hart-Simpson and former Strictly contestant Karim Zeroual.
Curtis joins the celebrity dating agency following his split from Maura Higgins and has admitted that he broke down in tears while discussing their relationship on the show.
He explained, “I cried, because I hadn’t spoken to anybody about the Maura situation before. To talk openly and freely was a breath of fresh air. It was nice to be able to speak with people I felt safe talking about it with.”
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Speaking exclusively to heat, celebrity dating agent Anna Williamson opened up about Curtis’ journey on the show.
“Curtis didn’t know who he was,” she says. “He came into our agency, he had his eyes brimming with tears, he was fidgety, and he looked like a lost puppy.
“I’m trained to feel tension and stress and to help people emotionally unload. He was like a pent up firework of emotion, it was quite obvious he needed to unload.”
Anna continued, “He had a lot of speculation around him and he’d never really spoken about his relationship and breakup with Maura, not even really to himself. He was being very open, and [he] sat there and burst into tears.
“Curtis is a really, really nice guy. You could tell the relief he felt when he was finally able to say how he felt.”