After years of watching 20-somethings strive to find love (but mostly lust) in the Love Island villa, the middle-aged dating show that viewers have been waiting for has finally arrived.
My Mum, Your Dad, launching on ITV with Davina McCall at the helm, will see the cast of contestants put their dating hats back on as they’re put forward by their children to try and find new partners.
Starting on Monday September 11 in the UK, the series looks like it’ll be a breath of fresh air as audiences have a chance to get to know people who have had plenty of past experience in the world of love.
One of those people is Roger, 58, who suffered immense heartbreak just 18 months prior to the start of filming when his wife died from melanoma.
Nominated by his 28-year-old daughter Jess to take part in My Mum, Your Dad, Roger said that she takes after her late mother, Joanne.
Losing his wife drilled into Roger just how short life can be, he shared, as he opened up on how he would describe himself in just a few words ahead of the programme’s launch.
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‘Fun, loving, conscientious, struggling to get old – I don’t want to get old. With what’s happened to me, I lost my wife, I know that you can get up and life can be over in a split second. People talk about it, but I’ve actually seen it,’ he said.
As for why Jess nominated him to jump head first into the My Mum, Your Dad experience, he stressed how ‘lovely’ she is as a person.
‘Her mum was really thoughtful in everything – she could plan things to a detail – and Jess has got that,’ he shared fondly.
‘She is so thoughtful and it was just a lovely thing for her to say, “Dad, look, we understand that you’re struggling and it’s been hard and we know that you’ve got a lot of love to give and we’re OK if you were to see someone else.” So much so that she put me forward.
‘They just wanted me to know they’d be happy to see me with someone else and just want me to be happy. It’s just how she is.’
After his wife died, Roger didn’t want to think about dating anyone, emphasising that he ‘didn’t really want to meet anyone’.
‘You don’t expect it to be you and you don’t expect it to be your wife,’ he added.
‘But I’m going on the show to get some confidence. I must have subconsciously wanted to meet someone by saying yes to the show.’
However, while some members of his family are enthusiastically backing him to participate in the experience, others are less certain that it’s the right time to be doing so.
‘Half of my family are saying “yes” to it, half are saying I’m not ready,’ he said.
‘But I know it’s something I don’t want to pass up on. And I get to meet Davina –I get to cuddle Davina! There’s an experience here that I don’t want to look back and think, “Why didn’t you try it?”
Metro.co.uk gave My Mum, Your Dad a glowing five-star review, dubbing Roger a ‘standout’ as he embarked on dating for the first time in 37 years.
My Mum, Your Dad launches tonight at 9pm on ITVX.
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