Fred Sirieix appeared on I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! settled in! Camp as he competes with nine other candidates for the title of “King of the Jungle.”
The 51-year-old maître d’hôtel, best known for his appearances on Channel 4’s First Dates, got off to a rocky start in the Australian outback when Nella Rose lashed out at him during a heated exchange over a light-hearted comment .
The 26-year-old influencer lost heart when Fred joked he was old enough to be her father, just hours after revealing how she lost both her parents.
Since then, viewers of the show have branded Nella “vile and presumptuous” following her “over-the-top” outburst, with Fred’s fiancé jumping to his defence.
And as it all begins in the outback, Web takes a look at Fred’s life before joining the ITV show, from his upbringing in France to success on First Dates, his mysterious fiancé and charity projects…
Challenge: First Dates star Fred Siriex has joined I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here! Camp as he competes with nine other candidates for the title of “King of the Jungle.”
Oh dear: But the maître d’hôtel, 51, was already off to a rocky start in the Australian outback when Nella Rose attacked him during a heated exchange
Drama: And as it all begins in the outback, Web takes a look at Fred’s life before heading into the ITV show (pictured with Nella Rose)
Where does Fred come from?
Born and raised in a close-knit family in Limoges, central France, Fred’s father, whom he cites as his role model, was a nurse.
When Fred originally attended catering school in nearby Souillac, he trained to be a chef, but eventually realized that his people skills made him better suited to working with customers.
He has been a committed Anglophile since he came to the UK aged 20 and says: “When I set foot in Dover I felt so at home here, as if I had arrived.”
He now lives in Peckham, south-east London.
Is he married?
Fred revealed he plans to tie the knot with his fiancée Fruitcake in 2024 after being forced to cancel their wedding due to the Covid pandemic.
The First Dates star shared that they hope to finally get married in Jamaica next year during a discussion with his fellow I’m A Celebrity campmates about meeting their partners for the first time.
Fred shared, “I’ve never had a bad date. But just as I met Fruitcake, I met her in Peckham.
“I walked up to her and she smiled at me and I smiled at her and I liked her eyes… I just had to talk to her… I asked for her number and said, ‘Are we going out for drinks tonight?'” That was before nine years.” “We’re getting married in Jamaica next year.”
Back in July 2020, Fred announced that he and Fruitcake had called off their wedding and planned to wait until the Covid pandemic ended to exchange vows.
When Fred popped the question, he also revealed that he couldn’t give his fiancée a ring due to the lockdown, but luckily she said yes anyway.
Speaking about his delayed wedding, Fred told Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway: “We’re waiting to see when we can travel because it’s important for all our friends and family.” [to be there].
“We have to be patient and wait to see what will happen – it is out of our control.” But we are now planning for early 2022.
‘This will be great. I can barely wait for it. It’s just going to be very exciting.’
Fred said they were still in the early stages of planning the big day but were in “no rush” to tie the knot.
He added: “We’ve slowly started looking at wedding venues and figuring out where we’re going to do it. “But there’s no rush and we’re keeping all options open.”
The moment he proposed to his beloved ‘Fruitcake’, Fred said he initially popped the question without a ring due to restrictions in place during lockdown.
He said: “It was perfect because she said yes – that’s the main thing.” The only thing is that I didn’t get a ring.
“But I’ve managed it now because we’re no longer in lockdown, so the ring is there and she’s very happy. “So it’s all good!”
Life: Born and raised in a close-knit family in Limoges, central France, Fred’s father, whom he cites as his role model, was a nurse. He now lives in Peckham, London (pictured in August)
Love: Fred revealed he plans to tie the knot with his fiancée Fruitcake in 2024 after being forced to cancel their wedding due to the Covid pandemic
Family: He has two children – Andrea, 19, and Matteo-Lucien, 14 – with his ex-partner Alex Spendolini
Amazing: Fred’s daughter Andrea is a British professional diver and was the youngest member of the Team GB diving team to take part in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics (pictured in 2022).
Does he have kids?
He has two children – Andrea, 19, and Matteo-Lucien, 14 – with his ex-partner Alex Spendolini.
Fred’s daughter Andrea is a British professional diver who competed in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics as the youngest member of the Team GB diving team.
She is a World Junior Champion, a two-time European Senior Champion, a two-time Commonwealth Games Champion and a two-time Senior National Champion.
How did Fred work before he became famous on television?
Fred’s day job was as general manager of the Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane for 14 years. He gave up this position in 2019.
He initially trained as a chef in France before choosing it and went on to work at Tante Claire in Chelsea and Le Gavroche in Mayfair.
The charismatic maître d’ was hired for the third series of Channel 4’s First Dates in 2015 and became the lynchpin of the show.
Set in an elegant, real-life London restaurant, each episode focuses on five pairs of singles – from lonely 80-year-olds to love-struck real estate agents – as they attempt to find that elusive “spark.”
He was drawn to the series because of its sensitivity to dating: “It’s not about catching people and making them look bad. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have done it.”
Since then, Fred has hosted Million Pound Menu and starred alongside chefs Gordon Ramsay and Gino D’Acampo in Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip.
In addition to his TV shows, Fred also helped found “The Right Course”, a charity project in which offenders are tasked with cooking and serving in prisons and receive a diploma at the end.
The initiative, which is being carried out in two prisons, has proven to be extremely successful: up to 90 percent of course participants find work after their release.
In September, some inmates who worked in a training restaurant at his prison were kicked out after a drug smuggling operation was uncovered.
Prison officers at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in west London suspected some inmates were accepting drug deliveries after narcotics were thrown over the wall of the prison restaurant.
In his day job, Fred was general manager of the Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane for 14 years. He left this position in 2019 (pictured at Galvin at Windows).
TV: Since First Dates he has hosted Million Pound Menu and starred alongside Gordon Ramsay and Gino D’Acampo in Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip (pictured with Gordan and Gino).
Project: Fred also helped start The Right Course, a charity project that puts offenders in charge of cooking and serving in prisons, leading to a diploma at the end
After an investigation was launched, 15 inmates who were currently undergoing training were banned from the prison and the prison reviewed its security.
To date, a total of 180 prisoners have completed Siriex’s prison course. The courses also take place at HMP Lincoln and HMP Isis in Thamesmead, south-east London.
The results far exceed those of other vocational rehabilitation projects, where on average only five to ten percent of inmates have left prison to look for work, despite the advantage of a nationwide shortage of workers in the hospitality industry.
The aim is to stop the scourge of reoffending through work and only two of the 180 former students are known to have reoffended, although the figures are incomplete due to privacy restrictions on information.