Celebs Go Dating is a show that, unsurprisingly, is kind of obsessed with famous people. Since the show first aired in 2016, we’ve seen everyone from soap actors to sports players (and many, many reality TV stars) attempting to find love with the guidance of the dating experts.
Each series, a new group of famous faces put themselves into the experts’ hands as they take themselves out of the celebrity dating pool and try and form a connection with regular members of the public. Very few of the show's couples have lasted on the outside, but the dating show has had an ability to turn its non-famous contestants (the Celebs Go Dating muggles, as we like to call them) into stars in their own right.
By nature of being a popular show, an appearance on the E4 show can be a first stepping stone in the reality TV careers for a number of our favourites, who went on to appear on the likes of Love Island, TOWIE and MAFS.
So we've found five stars you won’t believe popped up on Celebs Go Dating back in the day...
Shaughna Phillips (2019)
Before having a crack at romance on Love Island’s first ever winter series in 2020, Shaughna Phillips appeared on Celebs Go Dating. The reality star and mum-of-one took part in the 2019 series, when she had a mega-awks interaction with Made in Chelsea's Sam Thompson. Unsurprisingly, the pair did not hit it off – and later that year, Sam started dating another Love Island star after series four's Zara McDermott slid into his DMs.
Laura Vaughan (2023)
Laura Vaughan was one of the biggest stars on MAFS UK in 2023, but earlier that year she'd popped up on Celebs Go Dating, when she dated Gary Lucy. They even spent a steamy eve in a hot tub together – although their relationship didn't go anywhere. In a recent interview, Laura realised that she'd be keen to return to the show in the celebrity position this time. 'I would absolutely do Celebs Go Dating again, I think it would be iconic,' she said. We'd definitely tune in.
Tommy Cole (2018)
Tommy Cole recently popped the question to girlfriend Clelia Theodorou, having met her around the time he joined TOWIE in 2021 and welcomed a baby with her last year. But cast your mind back three years, before he was cast on TOWIE and Tommy, 34, made an appearance on Celebs Go Dating. He had a lot of success too and got on very well with Love Island 2017’s Olivia Attwood, who even chose him for her date in the final.
Georges Berthonneau (2018)
He’s best known as one of MAFS UK’s most famous alumni, but Georges Berthonneau actually popped up on Celebs Go Dating back in 2018, when he dated TOWIE's Chloe Sims. Georges was then 25 and listed his profession as a ‘model/supporting artist’. The couple got on well despite their 11-year age gap, but didn’t take the relationship any further.
Grace Jackson (2017)
Long before their reunion in the Love Island 2024 villa, Grace Jackson and Joey Essex first crossed paths when the TOWIE star was on Celebs Go Dating in 2017. Grace, who was just 18 at the time, was one of the show’s civilian daters, but the pair seemingly didn’t fancy each other, with Joey admitting that he was dating someone else on the show and 'wasn't interested at the time'. Meanwhile Grace was interested in Diversity dancer Perri Kiely but spoiler: that didn’t work out either. It was another six years until Grace and Joey dated after meeting in Ibiza and then they gave things another go in the villa.
Brad Skelly (2016)
Heavily tattooed MAFS UK 2023 star Brad Skelly also appeared on Celebs Go Dating back in the day. At the time, he was just 20, working in a fish factory and yet to get his trademark face tattoo. He went on a date with Geordie Shore’s Charlotte Crosby, where the pair took part in a hot sauce roulette challenge over dinner. In fact, the couple hit it off and continued to date throughout the series. Obviously, things didn’t work out – that’s why Brad ended up on MAFS and Charlotte is expecting baby number two with Jake Ankers.
WATCH: Charlotte Crosby on Jake Ankers: "This just feels really right"
Isobel Lewis is a news and entertainment writer for Closer where she covers TV, culture and celebrity.