Andy Burnham and his wife Frankie have been married since 2000, but their relationship had an unusual start. Before they tied the knot, Frankie appeared on the hit ITV show Blind Date, hosted by Cilla Black, where she was set up with a man named Will Harris from Surrey.
During the show, Frankie chose Will from a lineup of three bachelors. However, the date quickly turned sour. Frankie told Will to “try and look attractive,” and he arrived wearing dungarees and a pink jumper. After the date, Will called Frankie a “cold fish,” prompting her to throw a cushion at him. Backstage, she reportedly told him, “F*** off, I never want to see you again.”
Twelve years later, the couple encountered Will again in the House of Commons bar. By then, Will had become a marketing director for the Conservative Party, opposing Burnham's Labour affiliation. Burnham recalled the incident, saying, “My wife and I have been together for 25 years but in the early days she was on Blind Date and she was the picker, and to add insult to injury she picked Will from Surrey, who ended up being the director of communications for the Conservative Party.”
Andy and Frankie met at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and married in September 2000. They have three children: Jimmy, Rosie, and Annie. Frankie now works as Chief Customer Officer for Be.EV, an electric vehicle charging company in Manchester.
