BBC The Traitors star signs up to First Dates after suffering 'difficult' romantic past

The Traitors star Ash Bibi is swapping castle roundtables for restaurant rendezvous as she heads on Channel 4's First Dates after almost four years away from the dating world. The 47-year-old, who rose to fame on The Traitors last year, goes on her first-ever blind date on the Channel 4 show tonight after struggling to meet the right person in the past.

"I think I went on a date in 2022 - it's been at least three years. It's been nice getting back in the saddle because it's hard," she told The Mirror in an exclusive interview.

"It's really difficult meeting people. Well, it's actually easy meeting people for me because I can talk to anybody - but in terms of what we want and what we need, it's harder to meet somebody in that sense." It comes after The Traitors' Leanne Quigley revealed she would marry her fiancée today but is waiting for sad reason.

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Ash, who hasn't married before, revealed that her dating dry period came about after becoming uninterested in online dating and struggling with the perimenopause. "I was online dating before online dating was a thing," she said.

"I did that for a really long time - I started in the mid-2000s and it has just really changed a lot. The longer you're single, you get into your head. You're like, 'Can I be bothered to put up with this? I need a different quality here'.

"Also, I'm at that stage where I'm going through perimenopause and this is just something I came to a realisation with recently. Your body is changing as a woman when you're my age and I'm like, 'Does this play a part subconsciously in how I feel comfortable out dating?' It's a combination of so many different things."

Ash added that her ethos throughout her dating life has been not to waste time in relationships with people who "are not right" for her. "I've had relationships over the years, I've been in love. As women, we feel this societal and media pressure to be like when you're in your late 20s and early 30s, 'you need to get married, you need to have kids,'" she said.

"I was going through that and I do wonder to myself, 'Did I let a couple get away?' But I got older, I just thought, 'I actually don't want that. Why am I pursuing something that I don't actually want?'"

Instead, Ash turned to First Dates' maître d'hôtel Fred Sirieix to find her perfect match. "My approach to First Dates was, 'I just want to have an open mind.' I wanted to be open to whoever was presented to me," she said.

While fans will need to tune in tonight to find out what happens, Ash admits that it was nowhere near as stressful as her time on The Traitors. "There's nothing like that roundtable. I wouldn't say First Dates is scary," she said.

"I was really, really nervous because I've never been on a blind date ever in my life but they make you feel so welcome and it's such a beautiful atmosphere. The staff are amazing."

Ash took part in series two of The Traitors, being chosen as one of the original Traitors - however, she left the competition in episode five after being banished by her fellow co-stars. With Celebrity Traitors set to air later this year, Ash has some advice for the stars taking part.

"I think this advice would be for anybody at any time - whether they're going on Traitors or going on a first date. You have to just try and relax and be yourself. That's it. Whatever the universe has in store for you, the universe has in store."

She added: "Don't ask me to pick a favourite because there's so many people on that line-up that I am absolutely obsessed with, but I do want Alan Carr to do well. Fingers crossed, Alan!"

First Dates airs Friday nights at 10pm on Channel 4.

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