New Series Of First Dates Confirmed

Dating show First Dates is to return to Channel 4 for a new series, it has been confirmed. The new series will include 24 hour-long episodes, as well as four Celebrity Specials.

The team of staff – Fred, Sam, CiCi, Merlin and Laura – will return and reopen their doors to a whole host of new, hopeful singles, while the celebrity specials will include television presenter Esther Rantzen, reality star Jess Wright, paralympian Will Bailey and Gogglebox's Scarlett Moffatt.

Madonna Benjamin, Commissioning Editor, said: "We're delighted that First Dates continues to go from strength to strength. This is largely due to the quality of the match-making carried out by the brilliant team at Twenty Twenty. This year over 110,000 people asked to be matched for a blind date in the restaurant. With such a high volume of applications, we believe this is strong testament to the faith First Dates’ fans have in the programme finding them love!"

Nicola Lloyd, First Dates' Executive Producer, added: "We're hugely excited about the new series of celebrity first dates. It never seems to matter who walks through the doors of the First Dates Restaurant, regardless of status we're all vulnerable human beings and our celebrity series confirms this. We're proud to be able to maintain the emotional integrity of the series through these four unique celebrity episodes. Be prepared for some romantic matches alongside a few awkward encounters."

Twenty Twenty productions will produce the series and special episodes.

www.channel4.com

(JP)