Take Me Out could include gay and lesbian couples for first time
Take Me Out (ITV)
ITV’s flagship Saturday night dating show is rumoured to be considering gay and lesbian contestants.
Take Me Out, fronted by northern host Paddy McGuiness, is one of the most-watched programmes on weekend television.
The show has paired up hundreds of heterosexual couples over the years.
But as the series returns to screens it is yet to adjust the plot to help same-sex couples find romance.
Take Me Out (ITV)
Each week presenter Paddy, 44, introduces several men, each of wish are put through their paces by a range of 30 women.
The format could soon be altered to allow for all women or all men editions.
Social media users have called for the show to be extended to gay and bisexual singletons looking for love.
One person suggested on Twitter: “I honestly think there should be an LGBT version of Take Me Out. Get gays down that lift.”
Take Me Out (ITV)
“What about the LGBT community, why can’t they have some shows as well. I am sure there are plenty of gay men and lesbian women looking for love as well,” continued another.
A third suggested: “There is so much thirst on Take Me Out, but I want a LGBT version to air. Come on Take Me Out, get with the program!”
It remains unclear whether the show is to accept LGBT contestants in its new series, however.
Presenter Paddy McGuinness (Photo by Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images)
Back in October 2017, Paddy opened up about the prospect, telling Huffington Post: “When people ask, I always put it into the channel.
“So fingers crossed we will do, hopefully next year. Fingers crossed.”
The calls come after ITV2 hit reality show Love Island finally decided on whether to mix-up the sexualities of its contestants.
According The Daily Star the show will only feature heterosexual contestants in 2018.
A show insider told the newspaper they “fear it wouldn’t work” if the minority of the gay and lesbian couples didn’t fancy each other and therefore didn’t get together.
(ITV2)
A spokesperson told the paper that producer Richard Cowles’ comments from last year have not changed.
He said: “The format doesn’t really allow it. If you’re familiar with the programme, it’s about coupling and re-coupling.”
While some viewers have called for a gay or bisexual version of the show, an insider revealed there were “no plans” and added: “They don’t think gay contestants will work”.
The news will comes as a surprise after it appeared Love Island had accepted the idea yesterday.
(ITV2)
Not a single gay person has been included in the show.
In 2016, bi contestants Sophie Gradon and Katie Salmon paired up on the programme, but were told to romance a man if they wanted to be in with a chance to win the £50,000 cash prize.
A source close to the series previously said that LGBT singletons will be cast in the 2018 series.
“Love Island was undoubtedly the biggest reality show this year, it had everyone talking. Even people who weren’t watching the show still heard about it,” said a source to The Daily Star.
“The main thing they came under fire for was sex on TV, which people have now started to accept, so come next series people won’t really care about that. ITV want to increase the shock factor of the show and keep people talking, by having LGBT people included,” they added.
ITV 2’s Head of Digital Channels, Paul Mortimer said last year: “I know Richard (the show’s exec producer) said, maybe with tongue-in-cheek, that we might do a gay version one day.”
