Celebs Go Dating agent Paul Brunson said Ulrika Jonsson dated younger men because she suffered a “self-love problem” on the Channel 4 love show.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star, suave dating guru Paul dished on Ulrika’s dating life, her surprising unaired moments, and why the Swedish TV star went out with younger hunks on the show.
The agent revealed Ulrika, 54, had one big challenge to overcome – and it was handling the public’s perception of her as a big personality.
He said: “Her challenge was the public sees her as someone who’s so much bigger, if you will, than how she sees herself, and that’s a really big thing to have to deal with.”
(Image: Channel 4)
Speaking out on why Ulrika had a liking for younger men, Paul believed the former Gladiators star was secretly dismissing herself when she snubbed men her own age.
He said: “Normally anyone who feels very youthful themselves, they want to associate themselves with youth.
“The challenge that folks like that have, including the challenge that Ulrika has, is that you end up dismissing a significant number of people your own age, but you also end up dismissing yourself.”
Paul went on to say the mum-of-four had a “self-love problem” on the show, and she was dealing with years of “feeling small” from her past relationships.
(Image: E4)
He went on: “The fact that she doesn’t date anyone her age, she didn’t realise it until she came to the agency, but if you don’t want to date anyone your age, that means you actually have a self-love problem.”
Paul added: “There were larger issues that we were dealing with, with Ulrika. Years and years and years of her feeling small.”
The dating agent also revealed Ulrika used to “hide on set” during her stint on the show – in scenes that didn’t make the final edit.
When she first entered the programme during the initial mixer scene, show bosses knew she was the biggest name on the show so they set it up so the Swedish stunner could make an epic on-screen entrance.
(Image: Channel 4)
A special space was carved out for Ulrika to walk into, but she decided to snub the spot and rush over to hide in the corner of the room, and she continued to do so in future episodes.
Paul said: “When we started filming, I was being driven in to the first mixer and someone said ‘I heard Ulrika Jonsson is on the show!’, right?
“I got to set, people in the crew were like ‘Oh my god, Ulrik Jonsson’s on the show’, we heard some of the celebs talking. It’s cool to meet everyone… ‘But I can’t wait to meet Ulrika Jonsson’.
“So they set it up so that all the celebs arrive first and Ulrika arrives last. Normally, the celeb who’s arriving last – that’s the big celeb, right? She arrives last, you think she’s going to be ‘Oh my god, that’s Ulrika Jonsson!’.
(Image: E4)
“But she shows up so small, and she actually went and hid. They gave her a space in the middle, between the celebs, and she went over to the side and hugged the side.”
He went on to explain she would shy away from the spotlight in other mixers, adding: “Every mixer we would go to, she would stand in the corner, stand off to the side. You could tell she’s struggling with who she is, how she shows up, how she presents.”
The dating expert, who used to work with Oprah Winfrey, later said Ulrika was a “sweet soul” who used to bake fresh bread for him and his co-stars Anna Williamson and Tom Read-Wilson.
He said: “I love her… she would come in and make things for us, which is the sweetest thing in the world.
“She would make fresh bread for me and Anna and Tom. She is such a sweet soul, and I think when you see her with the tattoos and maybe know her history, you don’t realise how sweet a person she is.”
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
