Inside Fred Siriex’s life story: From his upbringing in France to First Dates success, mystery fiancée and charity projects as I’m A Celebrity co-star  Nella Rose fumes at him in the jungle 

Fred Siriex has settled in at the I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out Of Here! camp as he battles it out with nine other contestants to be crowed King Of The Jungle. 

The maître d’hôtel, 51, best known for appearing on Channel 4’s First Dates, has got off to a rocky start in the Australian outback with Nella Rose exploding at him during a heated exchange over a light-hearted comment. 

The influencer, 26, lost her rag when Fred joked he was old enough to be her father, just hours after revealing how she had lost both her parents. 

Viewers of the show have since branded Nella ‘vile and entitled’ after her ‘over the top’ outburst, with Fred’s fiancé jumping to his defence. 

And as everything kicks off in the outback, MailOnline takes a look at Fred’s life prior to entering the ITV show, from his upbringing in France to First Dates success, his mystery fiancé and charity projects…

Challenge: First Dates star Fred Siriex has arrived at the I’m A Celebrity … Get Me Out Of Here! camp as he battles it out with nine other contestants to be crowed King Of The Jungle

Oh dear: But the maître d’hôtel, 51, has already got off to a rocky start in the Australian outback with Nella Rose exploding at him during a heated exchange

Drama: And as everything kicks off in the outback, MailOnline takes a look at Fred’s life prior to entering the ITV show (pictured with Nella Rose)

Where is Fred from? 

Born and brought up in a close-knit family in Limoges, central France, Fred’s father, whom he cites as his role model, was a nurse.

Originally, when Fred attended catering college in nearby Souillac, he trained as a chef, but eventually realised his people skills suited him better to working with customers.

A committed Anglophile since coming to the UK aged 20, he says: ‘The moment I set foot in Dover, I remember feeling so at home here, as if I had arrived.’

He now lives in Peckham, Southeast London. 

Is he married? 

Fred revealed he’s planning to tie the knot with his fiancée Fruitcake in 2024, after being forced to cancel their nuptials due to the Covid pandemic.

The First Dates star shared that they are hoping to finally marry in Jamaica next year, during a discussion with his campmates on I’m A Celebrity about meeting their partners for the first time.

Fred shared: ‘I’ve never had a bad date. But the way I met Fruitcake, I met her in Peckham. 

‘I was walking up and she was smiling at me and I was smiling at her and I liked her eyes… I just had to talk to her… I asked for her number, I said, ”Shall we go for a drink tonight?” That was nine years ago. We’re getting married next year in Jamaica.’ 

Back in July 2020, Fred revealed that he and Fruitcake had cancelled their wedding, and were planning to wait until the end of the Covid pandemic to exchange their vows.

Fred also revealed that due to lockdown he couldn’t present his fiancé with a ring when he popped the question, but luckily she still said yes.

Speaking about his delayed nuptials, Fred told Ben Shephard and Kate Garraway: We’re waiting to see when we can travel because it’s important for all of our friends and family [to be there].

‘We have to be patient and see what is going to happen – it is out of our control. But we are planning for early 2022 now.

‘It’s going to be great. I can’t wait. It’s just going to be very exciting.’

Fred said they are in the early stages of planning the big day, but are in ‘no rush’ to tie the knot.

He added: ‘We have slowly started looking at wedding venues and where we are going to do it. But there’s no rush and we are keeping all of our options open.’

On the moment he proposed to his beloved ‘fruitcake,’ Fred said he originally popped the question without a ring due to the restrictions put in place during lockdown. 

He said: ‘It was perfect because she said yes – that’s the main thing. The only thing is though is I did not get a ring.

‘But I’ve now managed to do it because we are out of lockdown so the ring is there and she is very happy. So all is well!”

Life: Born and brought up in a close-knit family in Limoges, central France , Fred’s father, whom he cites as his role model, was a nurse. He now lives in Peckham, London (pictured in August)

Love: Fred revealed he’s planning to tie the knot with his fiancée Fruitcake in 2024, after being forced to cancel their nuptials due to the Covid pandemic

Family: He has two children — Andrea, 19, and Matteo-Lucien, 14 — with his partner ex partner Alex Spendolini

Amazing: Fred’s daughter Andrea is a British professional diver, competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as the youngest member of the Team GB diving team (pictured in 2022)

Does he have any children? 

He has two children — Andrea, 19, and Matteo-Lucien, 14 — with his partner ex partner Alex Spendolini. 

Fred’s daughter Andrea is a British professional diver, competed at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics as the youngest member of the Team GB diving team.

She is a World junior, two-time European senior, two-time Commonwealth Games and two-time national senior champion. 

What did Fred work as before finding TV fame?  

For his day job, Fred was the general manager at the Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows, on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane, for 14 years, he quit this role in 2019. 

He had initially trained to be a chef in France before deciding her preferred front of house, going on to work in Tante Claire in Chelsea and Le Gavroche in Mayfair.

The charismatic maitre d’, was brought in for the third series of Channel 4’s first dates in 2015 and became the lynchpin of the show. 

Set in a swish real London restaurant, each episode focuses on five pairs of singletons — from lonely 80-year-olds to lovelorn estate agents — trying to find that elusive ‘spark’. 

He was attracted to the series because of its sensitivity towards the daters: ‘It’s not there to catch people out and make them look bad. I wouldn’t have done it otherwise.’ 

Fred has since hosted Million Pound Menu and starred alongside chef’s Gordon Ramsay and Gino D’Acampo on Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip. 

Alongside his TV shows, Fred also helped launch The Right Course, a charity project where offenders are put in charge of cooking and serving at jails, leading to a diploma at the end. 

The initiative, which operating at two prisons, has proved hugely successful, with up to 90 per cent of those on the course finding working once released. 

In September some inmates working a his prison training restaurant were kicked off the course after a drug smuggling operation was uncovered. 

Prison officers at HMP Wormwood Scrubs in west London suspected some cons were taking drug deliveries after narcotics were thrown over the wall of the prison’s restaurant.  

For his day job, Fred was the general manager at the Michelin-starred restaurant Galvin at Windows, on the 28th floor of the Hilton on Park Lane, for 14 years, he quit this role in 2019 (pictured at Galvin at Windows)

TV: Since First Dates he has hosted Million Pound Menu and starred alongside Gordon Ramsay and Gino D’Acampo on Gordon, Gino and Fred: Road Trip (pictured with Gordan and Gino)

Project: Fred also helped launch The Right Course, a charity project where offenders are put in charge of cooking and serving at jails, leading to a diploma at the end

After launching an investigation, 15 inmates who were part way through training were banned, with the prison reviewing its security. 

So far, a total of 180 prisoners have completed Siriex’s prison course, with courses also running at HMP Lincoln and HMP Isis, in Thamesmead, south east London. 

Its results stand way ahead of other job-targeted rehabilitation projects, which have on average only seen five to 10 per cent of inmates leaving to find jobs, although it has the advantage of a national shortage of workers in hospitality.

The aim is to stop the scourge of re-offending through work, and only two of the 180 past students are known to have reoffended, although figures are incomplete because of data protection restrictions on information.

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