First Dates star Fred Sirieix has shared his admiration for his Olympic diver daughter Andrea, saying “she’s got a will of iron.”
Earlier this year, Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix, 19, and Lois Toulson, 24, made history by winning Great Britain’s first ever World Championship diving medal in a women’s event.
The pair took silver in the 10 metres synchro in Fukuoka, Japan in July.
World silver 🤝 Olympic qualification@andreassirieix and @LoisToulson proving that all the best things come in pairs🥈#Fukoka2023 pic.twitter.com/WQGRMLLQZj
— Team GB (@TeamGB) July 16, 2023
Last year they they won European gold in Rome.
Spendolini-Sirieix was the youngest member of the Team GB diving team at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.
TV star Sirieix, best known as the maitre d’ on Channel 4’s First Dates and for his travel shows on ITV, told Aimee Fuller’s Monday Mile podcast: “She’s got a will of iron, her mind is just incredible.”
Showing how he cheers her on, he added: “I’m always raising my arms like this.”
However, Sirieix said the pride is not always reciprocated, admitting that after a glass of wine, he “likes dancing on the tables,” adding: “My daughter is like: ‘Oh my God daddy, what are you doing?’”
Sirieix also shared some of the more mortifying moments from the filming of First Dates, saying: “The horror story really on First Dates is when somebody wants to kiss somebody and somebody else doesn’t want to kiss them.
“Because people keep their cards very close to their chest when you go dating, you don’t even know.”
He added: “With dating, I think there’s two things: there’s people who are afraid to hurt others, but also they are afraid to be hurt.
“That’s the kind of dynamic that you see play in the restaurant when people are having a date.
“Be open and vulnerable… you’ve got to be you. You’ve got to be honest, and if they don’t like you, or if it doesn’t work for them, it’s on them! You move on to the next one.
“There are so many people on this Earth, there’s bound to be at least one.”
Previous guests on her Olympic snowboarder Fuller’s Monday Mile series include Paddy McGuiness, Ellie Simmonds, Anton Du Beke, Ben Shephard, Becky Adlington and Vick Hope.
The podcasts are available via Spotify and Apple Podcasts.