With his warmth and sharp humour, Tom Read Wilson is the perfect person to welcome the stars when they enter the Celebs Go Dating agency. And since rocketing onto our screens as the receptionist in 2016, Tom has become a firm favourite on the show.
Now back for its 12th series, fans are currently eagerly following the likes of Vanessa Feltz, Chloe Burrows and Adam Collard on their quests for love – with Tom there to guide them every step of the way.
“I feel protective of everybody on the show – the dates and the celebrities – because when you know that you are about to potentially bare your soul and that you have the vulnerability of exposing yourself to potential romance on screen, you have to be very intrepid,” says the TV personality, 36, who was promoted to senior client coordinator in 2021.
Speaking of this year’s series, Tom reveals, “There are oodles of changes. The one that’s most germane to me is being on the same level as the agents, which is lovely because I get to probe a little bit more! Historically, I’ve watched the series almost as a viewer would, because there’s so much that I wouldn’t be privy to that happened in the consultation rooms and on the dates. And although I’m still not exactly privy to that, in the new setting, I hear a lot more gossip!”
This season, the show has undergone a refresh – most notably the addition of sex expert Dr Tara Suwinyattichaiporn, who is helping make the show what fans on social media are calling, “The sexiest series yet”.
And viewers have been watching Tara give advice to half-sister of supermodel Kate Moss and OnlyFans sensation, Lottie, about her sex life and how to approach sex while dating.
Tom says, “Tara has been very hortatory regarding candid discourse about sex, which is a wonderful, wonderful thing. Even outside of the show, I’m good friends with Anna [Williamson] and Paul [Carrick Brunson], so it must have been incredibly daunting for her to begin working with us – but she did it with grace and wisdom and sensitivity and I am dazzled by her.
“She’s very clever and warm, and I do think that she’s going to have a wonderful impact on the way we talk about sex. Lottie is so good at being candid about sex. In a way, her challenge was to broaden that candour into all kinds of other topics that maybe are a little bit closer to her heart. And I really feel immensely proud of Lottie because I think she slowly but surely did that, and it actually resulted in quite a fundamental change in her.”
Recently, Lottie, 25, has set tongues wagging after being pictured holding hands on nights out with Love Island Lothario Adam, after the pair revealed earlier in the show that they’d slept together.
And on their romance, Tom says, “I couldn’t see it coming, actually. Afterwards, I thought, ‘Oh, well of course, because they’re both so delicious’ – they really are utterly toothsome! But no, I’m not a good prophet.”
The show has also seen presenter Vanessa Feltz and Love Island star Chloe Burrows open up about their failed past relationships. Vanessa, 61, split from long-term fiancé Ben Ofoedu earlier this year after he cheated on her, while Chloe, 27, also broke up with her co-star Toby Aromolan – who she met on the seventh series of Love Island – this year after two years together.
And Tom says that it was tough seeing Vanessa and Chloe break down, but that he believes situations with exes are good to work through.He says, “I think it’s possible to be friends with an ex if you break up in absolute synchrony. I have a dear chum who broke up with his boyfriend. They both knew that they’d segued to something that was no longer romantic, but they are still best chums. If somebody still has a foot partly in it, then it’s much harder to countenance a friendship. I think it’s entirely dependent on circumstance.
“I think relationships are such multifaceted things, and the reasons that they end are equally multifaceted, so there’s never really a one-size-fits-all.”
As for his own dating life, while he may be a whizz in the kitchen, Tom – who has recently partnered with pasta sauce brand Dolmio – says he has never cooked up a storm for a partner.
“This is an awful thing to confess, but I’ve never really got that far,” he laughs. ‘I’m wildly unlucky in that department. I always think that cooking for someone is about five or even six dates in – and I never really get beyond number four!"
Tom is working with Dolmio to inspire the nation to switch up their home-cooked weekday meals. Six in 10 people cook the same meals on a loop, with Bolognese being one they love and cook regularly, so Dolmio wants to encourage people to enjoy Bolognese in new, wonderful and wacky ways to put a fun twist on their meals.