ITV's Take Me Out used to be a fan favourite on Saturday nights, now a former contestant has lifted the lid on what the show was really like to appear on and the secret strict rules
Take Me Out became a UK TV staple back when it kicked off in 2010 – but now a former contestant has opened up about their time on the show.
The dating show ran until 2019 and was hosted by Paddy McGuinness, who would be a perfect candidate for it after his divorce from wife Christine. She, on the other hand, has started dating women after the breakdown of their marriage.
The iconic ITV series saw a whole lineup of single ladies wait for potential suitors to come sweep them off their feet.
Blonde bombshell Ciara De Carteret took to TikTok to talk about her time on the show in 2017, which she starred on when she was just 18. She revealed the behind-the-scenes secrets and what it was like to really appear on the programme.
The first thing that shocked the TV star was how many outfits she was told to bring with her and how she was told to undress and parade them in front of staff. She said: "I can remember when they sent through how many outfits we needed to bring with us, I was shocked, like, I'm a broke student. I had no money, so couldn't afford to go and buy all the outfits. My friend came around to help me pack.
"One bit that really kind of freaked me out, remember all those outfits that we had to bring? We literally had to bring them all to the studio and go straight to a wardrobe. We had to try every single thing on in front of them.
"It was honestly a row of women sitting in this small room filled with railings of clothes. We had to undress in front of them and just try everything on. And for a young girl that was only, like, 18, that was a lot, and they would literally be looking at you, going, 'No, yes, no, doesn't fit properly. No.'
"It was intense. I wasn't a huge fan of that experience."
Ciara also spoke about meeting host Paddy and how the contestants were warned against flirting with him, who was married to Christine McGuinness at the time. She recalled: "I did love seeing behind the scenes of everything. We did a full run-through with the host. We got to meet him, though everyone was warned that you weren't allowed to flirt with the host. I'd like to think that nobody would anyway."
When taking a trip to the Isle of Fernando with her date, she revealed that producers took their phones away and barely fed them. Ciara shared: "As soon as we landed, we got our phones taken off us, and we were chaperoned the whole time. We were told that we weren't getting our phones back until we were ready to go home.
"We were going to be here for three or four days, and for a young 18-year-old, not being able to get contact with her mum for this entire time, it was quite stressful, and it was pretty scary for my mum as well, because she just wanted to know that I was OK, and I literally couldn't contact her."
She was also left severely hungry during her stay, Ciara said: "It's a bit of a blur, but I do remember being absolutely starving and asking for some food. They literally gave us a cereal bar at this point and we hadn't eaten from early the day before.
"They knew this, and I don't know if it's because we were the first episode of this season and they just weren't prepared. With the show, you go on a night out and get drunk, and then you see what happens. So we all got ready, and once we were ready, we went and did some interviews with the hosts, and then it was time to go out and have some drinks but I remember we hadn't eaten so I was drunk.
"So funny, because the bar that we went to was empty. So the crew themselves had to get in and make it look more packed than it was. And obviously, when you mix alcohol with an empty stomach, there's drama. And there was drama between one of the couples, which honestly, looking back, that's probably what they wanted."
Ciara returned to the ITV studios for the reunion episode where the after-show hosts took a deep dive into the romance or lack thereof between paired contestants. However, she remembered feeling uneasy on the show.
She recalled: "On the reunion episode, I was actually really uncomfortable because I felt bad that it didn't work out between us. And he's actually a really lovely guy, but to save answering any awkward questions, we just kind of said that everything was okay. But you can definitely tell in that episode that I am really uncomfortable and I just don't want to be there.
"Look, I have no hard feelings, but when I was really young, it was a really weird experience. I don't regret it, and it brought me loads of opportunities."
Daily Star has reached out to ITV for comment.
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