Davina McCall became emotional chatting about her new ITV show (Picture: Samir Hussein/WireImage)
Davina McCall is the host of the new dating show My Mum, Your Dad which aims to help people get a second chance at love – something she is very passionate about.
As the title suggests, the people who are searching for romance are all single parents and have been nominated to take part in the programme by their grown-up offspring.
While filming the ITV series, the prospective daters stayed at a retreat and Davina, 55, was able to get to know them during visits and clearly became emotionally invested.
Speaking about the importance of the show at a special screening of the first episode, that took place at the ITV offices in London, she said: ‘I just wanted to see midlifers represented in terms of dating.
‘In your forties and fifties and when you’ve got children, life is complicated, but more than ever you feel that you are at a point in your life where you deserve to find love.
‘They deserve to find love and spend the rest of their lives with somebody. You know when,’ Davina said before abruptly having to stop talking.
Davina is hosting My Mum, Your Dad (Picture: ITV)
A clearly emotional Davina unnecessarily apologised for her sweet display of emotion: ‘Oh God Sorry. I’m going to speak in a minute.’
‘It’s about opening the door and coming home to someone,’ she finally said.
Davina herself found love again later in life with Michael Douglas, after splitting from her husband Matthew Robertson in 2017.
As her voice continued to wobble Davina – who has children Holly, 21, Tilly, 19, and Chester, 16 from the marriage – spoke about one particular contestant on the show – Roger. He became single when his wife died last year from melanoma, and now their daughter Jess wants him to know it’s okay to move on.
‘I mean, when I saw that bit with Roger talking about his daughter, I actually had to leave the room at the end of the show and go to the toilet.’
Roger and Jess made Davina emotional (Picture: ITV)
‘When he said he’d just like to come home to someone you’re like “Oh God I really want you to find this”. Everyone deserves it, but it’s hard to find.
‘We’re of that generation where apps are weird and we don’t know how to do that. “What do you mean you’re still talking to 17 other people while we’re going out on our third date?”,’ she joked.
Davina also spoke about passionately campaigning to get a programme made about dating in later life. The determined host even wrote an email to an ITV boss, sharing her idea for a ‘middle-aged Love Island’.
‘We’ve been trying to burn that name ever since and I’m sorry, I’ve ruined it and I’ve just said it again,’ she joked.
ITV decided to go down a different avenue and produce My Mum, Your Dad, which has already had series in the USA and Australia.
Now, Davina is keen to point out how the show differs from the broadcaster’s other dating show juggernaut Love Island, including their choice to focus on children and their parents.
My Mum, Your Dad will differ from Love Island in many ways (Picture: ITV)
‘It’s interesting because a few people have been asking, “Why kids nominating parents?” I think that’s what gives it the extra heart,’ she reasoned.
‘I thought one of the most moving things was this idea that as a child, you can’t move on with your life until you feel that your parent is happy.
‘I think it sets it apart is that. It’s not cynical. It is just about the love. There’s no prize money.’
On Love Island, the winners of the show are given £50,000, but Davina explained that on My Mum, Your Dad ‘the prize is love’.
There were also no dumpings or evictions, instead, the singletons leave if they don’t feel they can make a connection in the house.
Another major point of difference is there are no cameras in the bedroom.
Davina’s new show will be different to Love Island (Picture: Matt Frost/ITV/Shutterstock)
‘I think it’s important to point out it’s different in that way.
‘For me, personally speaking, I’d rather watch the hint of love, a hint of something coming, should I shouldn’t I, a moment of tenderness, something amazing – that’s so exciting.
‘But like jumping into bed with someone and s******g – it’s sort of like once you’ve seen it once, it doesn’t mean anything. This really f*****g means something.’
Although she teases the children still become uncomfortable while watching their parents’ antics in a surveillance bunker: ‘There are moments where the kids have got cushions in front of their faces, and they’re like that curled up, but it could be over something quite small and intimate because they’ve never seen their parents in a date situation.’
My Mum, Your Dad starts Monday 11th September at 9pm on ITV1 and ITVX. It airs every weeknight for two weeks.
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Davina’s new show helps people get a second chance at love.