When Cici Coleman isn’t busy filming First Dates, the Channel 4 star has her own personal sanctuary to return to, complete with sequinned cushions and potted plants.
With First Dates returning to our screens tonight (January 19), Cici, 33, and her crew of expert waiting staff are prepared to help the nation to find love.
This season, the show is leaving London behind and travelling to Manchester, filming in the city’s new The Refinery restaurant for the first time.
However, when filming wraps, Cici can relax in her chic apartment, as seen on her Instagram account.
Designed in an open-plan style, the one-bed apartment features hardwood flooring and glossy cream kitchen units.
Cici opted to furnish her bright and airy living room with sofas in shades of soft grays and yellows (Image: Instagram)
Cici has welcomed some greenery into the space with an array of potted plants, housing the miniature trees and shrubs in navy and ivory-toned ceramics.
Cici’s sofa is pale yellow and designed in a scalloped style, customised with pastel pink cushions and a rose-gold hanging lamp.
A second retro-inspired sofa, which is grey with button-hole quilting, features contrasting navy blue cushions on top.
In the loo, the Channel 4 favourite has a relaxing set-up, decking out her bubble bath with a candle tray and gold geometric tea-light holders.
In one corner of her bedroom, Cici has created a pink-hued haven with shearling and mirrored fixtures (Image: Instagram)
Taking the house tour to the bedroom, Cici has a stylish wire-framed bed with a knitted throw.
The actress has tucked a pink velvet armchair in one corner of the room, nestled beside a 60s-style mirrored side table with a silver lamp.
Matching pink shearling rugs have been scattered, and a furry heart-shaped cushion is perched on the coordinated arrangement of furniture.
The Oxford-born star regularly showcases her apartment during her hot pilates classes, which she shares with fans online.
The First Dates star has transformed her bathroom into a spa-like experience with candles and foaming bath lotions (Image: Instagram)
When Cici first discovered the intense workout regime, she realised it helped significantly with both body and mind.
After undergoing teaching training at Inferno Hot Pilates, Cici decided to practice six days a week, sharing her progress with fans online.
Reflecting on her journey, Cici shared a before and after image of herself last year, opening up about the “bad headspace” she found herself in before practicing yoga.
Cici added a touch of warmth to her decor by scattering a knitted throw across the bed (Image: Instagram)
She said: “The one on the left I remember looking at and feeling good about the fact that I’d lost 2lbs.
“Now when I look at it, I remember what a bad headspace I was in and how stressed I was. I wasn’t eating enough and was just trying to get through the day without crying.
“I then had a word with myself, and started listening to lots of Oprah podcasts, I was meditating and got on top of my yoga practice.”
Cici regularly works out in her open plan kitchen-living area, demonstrating hot pilates for her fans (Image: Instagram)
While Cici is a seasoned regular on First Dates, the show will be welcoming two new faces to the waiting staff this year.
Mancunian waitress Daniella – who has been a professional server since her teens – will work by her side, along with David, who has a background in silver service.
Series 16 will also see the return of the fabulous Maître d’ Fred, as he ushers patrons into the Manchester eatery.
The show was previously filmed in London’s Paternoster Chop House, next to St Paul’s Cathedral, but Channel 4 bosses have decided on a location revamp for the first time in eight years.
Cici will return to the cast of First Dates this season, as the show swaps London for Manchester (Image: Daily Mirror)
Discussing the changing format, executive producer, Jon Crisp, told BBC: “To be honest, we’d been looking for quite a while to change the restaurant because we filmed a lot there [in London], and we were keen to shake things up a little bit, create a new environment for daters which would keep their experience as real as possible.
“If you follow the same familiar steps, the daters know the process and procedures, and we were keen to make sure it felt more like real life.”
First Dates airs on Tuesdays at 10pm on Channel 4.
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
