Ten Questions with Matt and Emma Willis
The showbiz couple found love on television — now they’re hosting a new dating show with a twist
Netflix
- Caroline Frost
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The UK version of hit American dating show Love Is Blind has arrived. The unique format means that the contestants try to find love, not at first sight, but at first chat — meeting, courting and committing, all without seeing each other beforehand. The show’s co-hosts are Emma Willis and her pop star husband Matt, who have been married since 2008 and have three children. The couple met in 2005 when Emma interviewed Matt’s band Busted for MTV — but would their new show’s unusual format have worked for them?
What’s it like being a celebrity TV couple? Does being in the same industry help or hinder?
Matt: Notoriously, famous couples don’t do too well… but that’s true of lots of couples. Fame is a by-product of doing the job and that’s all it is. It helps you progress, but I don’t really care about that and neither does Emma. If one of us did care more, it would be a bit awkward.
Emma: It’s useful that we both understand the industry. If I didn’t do this and had no idea of Matt’s world… it spins me out as it is. But we’ve never known each other not like this.
You have busy careers, and three children. What does your downtime look like?
Matt: Sixty per cent of our interaction is sorting diaries.
Emma: We’re constantly driving our children around, from friends’ houses to parties, and if we’re lucky we’ll get a Sunday where we don’t have to drive anywhere and we’ll all just be at home, together, either watching a movie or just doing nothing.
Matt: Our children are just getting to an age where they want to spend time away from us, and we’re adjusting to that.
I don’t know if I’d have wanted to do TV presenting without Emma
Matt Willis
Now you’re working together on Love Is Blind: UK — is that a first for you?
Matt: We did an I’m a Celebrity spin-off in 2007/8, but that was pre-marriage, pre-kids, so it was a very different version of us. As soon as this job came up, it ticked every box for me. I love the show, and hanging out with Emma again was a win.
Matt, what’s it like stepping into Emma’s world of presenting?
Matt: I don’t know if I’d have wanted to do TV presenting without Emma. Usually I’m a bit jealous when she gets to go off and film shows, so it was good to peer behind the curtain and experience it. She’s amazing at her job. Now I get to go to work with her and have a really good time.
Matt Willis and Emma Willis in Love is Blind: UK. Tom Dymond/Netflix
Tell us what viewers can expect from the series…
Emma: It’s not a show about stitching people up – it’s to help people find a connection with somebody, hopefully marriage, hopefully love and a lasting, happy relationship.
Matt: It’s a group of guys and girls, looking for love. The guys are one side of the wall, the girls the other, and they go speed dating, just a few minutes with each person, and this all goes on without them ever seeing each other. The chats get longer, and after about six days, people are saying the L word. It’s quite intense.
What happens when the couples finally get to see each other for the first time?
Matt: After about 11 days there’s a proposal and if it’s accepted, they meet each other for the very first time. They go and spend a honeymoon somewhere and then move into a flat, living together with their jobs, their phones back in hand. Real life smacks them in the face and then, if they’re ready to, they decide to get married. And in the end there’s a wedding.
Is it an actual wedding?
Matt: It’s a legal document! They are legally married. They can say yes, or say no and walk away. It’s savage.
With that in mind, how do you keep the contestants on an even keel?
Emma: As the host, you have to support them as much as possible. It’s similar to working on Big Brother, where I had to make sure my line of questioning was fair. I always want to help someone because if that were my partner, mum or daughter, I hope people would be taking care of them.
The girls of Love Is Blind: UK. Netflix
If it’s such an emotional rollercoaster, why do people come on the show?
Matt: People want to fall in love and get married. Most of the people we spoke to were sick of modern dating, using apps. They were looking for something more tangible. And as the visual aspect is taken out of the equation, you ask questions you might otherwise find quite uncomfortable.
Emma: It makes me hopeful. They just want to meet someone! Everyone loves love.
If you’d met on Love Is Blind, do you think you’d have got together just by talking?
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Emma: My initial thought was that it would have been a definite yes for me – but Matt was more hesitant.
Matt: I met Emma when she interviewed my band and I was besotted by her. So I’d like to think we’d have a good time just talking through the wall. It might have worked. And I know seeing her for the first time would have been a good moment…
Authors
Caroline Frost
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