‘First Dates’ Fred Sirieix says it was love at first sight with his fiancée

First Dates maître d' Fred Sirieix got engaged in March of this year to his girlfriend ‘Fruitcake’ – and it appears it was love at first sight.

Sirieix was speaking on White Wine Question Time and talking about the lessons in love he’s learnt on First Dates when he revealed how he met his fiancée.

“It was beautiful,” he said of meeting the unnamed lady – he refers to as Fruitcake – on the street.

“You know, it was a bit like ‘I saw you, I fell in love and you smile because you knew’. And we went for a drink and we were all over each other. And the rest is history.”

Read more: Fred Sirieix announces engagement

The couple, who met in 2018, would never have got together if Sirieix hadn’t taken a chance – and he urges all would-be lovers to follow his lead.

He said: “You've got to be ready in your heart and in your mind – and in your guts too – that this is something that you would like to happen and when the opportunity presents itself, you got to be able to recognise it and be brave and do it.”

The star, who until last year was General Manager of the Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows, also revealed that things are fantastic in the bedroom.

“I've never enjoyed sex as much as now,” he declared.

When asked by podcast host Kate Thornton why he thought that was, he said it was mostly down to gaining confidence with age, but also being with the right person.

“The confidence thing meeting another person who feels exactly the same way as me,” he said. “And it's great. I'm just smiling every morning!”

Sirieix, who is the current ambassador for M&S Wines, believes relationships are a lot like wine tasting.

Read more: 'First Dates' Fred Sirieix: The chef is not the most important person in a restaurant

“The wine has got to breathe… It's a bit like a relationship,” he explained to Thornton. “You meet them, then as you know them, they open up themselves and they tell you more about them. And this is what wine tasting is about!”

He continued: “You cannot enjoy and try wine and really appreciate them without smelling them first - that's the pleasure. I love foreplay.”

While the TV star has admitted to using online dating apps in the past, he says he is very old fashioned and when he was single, preferred to meet people face-to-face. The advice he has for online daters though is to commit a little bit more.

He said: “Once you've met online and you've made a connection and you say, ‘Okay, I want to meet’ then I say, you've got to stop talking online. Go and meet them!”

After being the Maître d'on First Dates for seven years, Fred feels he has a great insight into the whole dating world.

“My experience of helping people with dating on First Dates – and I've met hundreds and hundreds of people – is a lot of people are very shy,” he said.

“They do not say what they want. They are worried about are they come across, and that confidence sometimes is lacking in people.”

Fred’s big tip is to dig deep for inner confidence as he thinks it’s one of the most attractive traits around.

Read more: Pornstar Martinis and oysters: Fred Sirieix shares his dream meal

“Confidence is the most exciting thing, the most attractive thing for people,” he advises. “If you've got confidence and and you're happy with who you are and you can just say confidently what you want and what you are after and you're a good person, it will show.”

Sirieix, who turned 48 in January of this year, said that age has given him a confidence and self-belief that money cannot buy.

“I like myself much more than when I was 20 – and I think I'm a better human being that when I was 20,” he told Kate. “I think it's just about that overall knowledge, experience, wisdom and that sense of confidence of self, of knowing what is good and what is bad.”

Hear Fred Sirieix talk more about First Dates, his favourite wines and why his mum’s homemade pudding would be on his dream menu on this week’s episode of White Wine Question Time. Listen now on iTunes and Spotify.