Davina McCall says it's 'dream come true' to make unlucky-in-love parents happy
Davina McCall says her dating show has extra heart as grown-up kids have nominated single parents for another chance at love.
She is confident ITV’s My Mum, Your Dad will have viewers in stitches and tears over its fortnight run, starting Monday. The kids put the eight parents into pairs, then watch their every move in a luxury Surrey retreat from a secret bunker. Host Davina, 55, said: “One of the most moving things was this idea that as a child you can’t move on with your life until you feel that your parent is happy.
“What sets it apart, is that it’s not cynical. There’s no prize money. You don’t get the big cash fund at the end. The prize is love.” It has been nicknamed Midlife Love Island but Davina said there are no cameras in the bedrooms, although “there are moments where the kids have got cushions in front of their faces.”
Divorced mum-of-three Davina, who is in a relationship with hairdresser Michael Douglas, said fronting such a show was a dream come true. “I hope it’s something that kids can watch with their family, you can all have a bit of a laugh and a cry.” Viewers will see some of the daters get upset as they speak about past experiences.
The stars of My Mum, Your Dad (ITV)Davina said: “I just wanted to see mid-lifers represented in terms of dating, because of this second time round thing that often happens in your forties and fifties. Where you've got children, life is complicated, but more than ever you feel that you are at a point in your life where you deserve to find love. They deserve to find love - and spend the rest of their lives with somebody.”
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She added: “It's like a dream come true to walk into an entertainment TV programme on prime time ITV, and see my people. A bunch of mid-lifers who all looked really cool, are really good fun, culturally set at the same place in life. We all understand each other, we've all been through, we’re second time rounders.
"It's really brilliant to be in a room full of those kind of people... I know my 16-year-old son will be laughing his head off and going ‘God, you are so embarrassing. You are just like that.’ It's very, very different, but everybody will be able to relate to something in this show.” Davina said that Britain was full of people who were single for all sorts of different reasons. “People that have lost someone, or maybe that have gone through life unsuccessful time and time and time again, who are scarred.”
Davina admitted that it was frustrating on the show not to be allowed in to go in and give reassurance when misunderstandings arose - but said on one occasion absolutely insisted. “I did actually say to the production team, ‘Please let me just go and talk to this person,’ because they were having a proper crisis.
"And this person was so lovely and just could not see it for themselves. I had to go in and say, ‘We chose you because you are brilliant. Know that.’ So I did that once. But really I shouldn’t. You've got to let it play out, because the more you get involved, actually, it's a mistake.”
The parents are Monique, 50, of North London; Sharon, 53, of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear; Caroline, 51, of South Lanarkshire; and Natalie, 44, from Bournemouth, Dorset; Paul, 47, of Bath; Clayton, 57, of Nottingham; Roger, 58, of Derbyshire and Elliott, 53, of Essex.
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