Take Me Out was one of the biggest shows of the 2010s and remained a Saturday night staple on ITV for nearly a decade
Paddy McGuinness hosted the ITV hit dating show, in his first big stint as a presenter on prime time telly.(Image: ITV / Thames / Fremantle)
A Take Me Out contestant has spilled some behind-the-scenes secrets as he revealed what presenter Paddy McGuinness was really like when the cameras weren’t rolling.
The dating show was one of the biggest shows of the 2010s and remained a Saturday night staple on ITV for nearly a decade. Viewers watched countless men trying to win the affections of 30 single ladies and if successful, the male contestant would choose one of the singletons to go on a date with, and the pair would get whisked off to the Canary Islands.
Now, 15 years after trying his luck with the ladies, former contestant John Harris has opened up on his time on the show. Helping John find his match was host Paddy McGuinness, who played matchmaker in his first big stint as a presenter on prime time telly.
Paddy quickly became a hit among viewers and John has since labelled the TV presenter a “breath of fresh air” and a “really nice man”. John also praised Paddy for making him and the other contestants feel at ease throughout the process.
John Harris has opened up on his memorable experience of the show (Image: ITV)
“He was great. He’s a make your life easier kind of person. He came and said hello to you before. He was a breath of fresh air,” John told Zingo Bingo.
“I was only young, and whilst in my head there were delusions of grandeur, I think I thought I was this charismatic young man. I was probably a nervous wreck. I remember Paddy being really nice.”
John went on the dating show as a student in 2011 and admitted that he only appeared on the show because it “looked silly and fun” and not to find love.
It was perhaps a good thing that he wasn’t looking for anything serious, as he claimed that a number of the women were already in relationships.
John praised Paddy for making him and the other contestants feel at ease throughout the process(Image: ITV)
He said: “It transpired that loads of the girls were already in relationships. They were looking for a bit of publicity. They cast different characters in each episode. They would cast a gentleman, an interesting one, a quirky one, and then another good-looking fellow.”
After being lucky enough to bag a date with single girl Kerry, John was then flown to the Isle of Fernando’s the very next day.
The potential lovebirds, however, weren’t alone and John explained that the entire series is filmed at once so all matched couples went out at the same time. But their flights were paid for by ITV and they were given “a little bit of expenses for food and stuff”.
John chose to go on a date with a lifeguard named Kerry but confessed that he wasn’t looking for anything series (Image: ITV)
However things didn’t work out between Kerry and John as he only wasn’t to have fun on the date and said that he thought Kerry “wanted perhaps something a little more”.
He added: “She was a lovely girl – nothing against it. But I was not the right man for her.”
While Take Me Out is no longer available to stream, episodes and clips of the famous dating show can be found on YouTube.
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