Fred Sirieix has said the new series of First Dates is "very, very different" as the show returns to Channel 4 tonight, October 28. The maître d' made the admission during an appearance on today's edition of Lorraine, where he spoke to Lorraine Kelly about the upcoming instalment.
Sirieix, who has fronted the show since it first aired in 2013, said he can "see straight away" if a couple will find success, but added: "There are times when you get it wrong and sometimes where you don't know because some people keep their cards very close to their chest, but something happened in this series."
A 'different love current'
He explained: "This is the most different series we have ever done since we opened the restaurant in 2013. There has been sort of a steady way in which the daters are looking for love and their expectations and the way they approach the dates."
"In this series, it was very, very different. It's like people are behaving very differently, they have a very different mindset. The way they go about the date, the way they go about saying what they want or how they are with the other person."
The star continued: "It's like this kind of dream relationship that we all have with the princess and happily ever after, it seems like people aren't thinking about that anymore. Or if they are, they are thinking about it in different ways."
Sirieix told Lorraine that daters now have different values and what they are looking for out of a partner has changed, adding: "That's the first time in almost 12 years now that I do First Dates that I feel there is a different love current. It's really interesting."
Daters' intentions and a new novel
When asked if people want to find love or simply appear on television, Sirieix said: "They want to find love." He added: "There's always somebody who wants to be on TV, there's always an element of that but I think that because people trust First Dates, they know who we are, what we do and they know we are very serious."
"First of all we run a very professional restaurant, but what we do it we look after daters and we want people to find love. That is what we do and that is the promise on the door..... If we can't deliver because there's no chemistry it's got nothing to do with us."
Speaking about the change, Sirieix admitted he was stunned, saying: "At one point I was in the restaurant thinking 'is this me', I'm speaking to the team, to the producer and I'm thinking what's going on here? and they have the same feeling as me. It's just this current is very different."
He also discussed his move into writing, as he pens his own book Murder on the Menu. He said: "It's a cosy crime novel and it's set in a restaurant." Sharing details of the premise, including how the maître d' is the inspector, he added: "We are going to announce the pre-order so I wasn't supposed to talk about it, never mind it doesn't matter."
First Dates returns tonight, October 28, at 10pm on Channel 4. Lorraine airs weekdays at 12.30pm on ITV.
