{"id":605505,"date":"2026-08-26T20:26:13","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:26:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/605505\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T20:26:13","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T20:26:13","slug":"shell-have-to-buy-a-hat-maura-higgins-to-host-disney-reboot-of-blind-date","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/605505\/","title":{"rendered":"She\u2019ll have to buy a hat \u2013 Maura Higgins to host Disney+ reboot of Blind Date"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maura Higgins will host a reboot of the classic British TV series Blind Date for Disney+.<\/p>\n

The Irish model, 35, rose to fame on the 2019 series of Love Island and recently became known in America for reaching the final of The Traitors US.<\/p>\n

The Blind Date reboot will follow the original format where a contestant must choose between three mystery potential suitors, hidden from view behind a sliding wall.<\/p>\n

\"79thHiggins was said to be a \u2018perfect match\u2019 for the format (Doug Peters\/PA)<\/p>\n

The series \u2013 which also promises to contain some \u201cformat twists\u201d \u2013 will film at a secret location later this year.<\/p>\n

Angela Jain, head of content, Disney+\u00a0EMEA,\u00a0said:\u00a0\u201cMaura is the perfect match for our version of Blind Date.<\/p>\n

\u201cHer distinctive straight-talking humour, coupled with her experience as a reality dating show contestant, means we know she has the gravitas plus the wit to bring Blind Date to new audiences.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re\u00a0very much looking forward to Maura helping our daters navigate their own journeys to find love as she steps into the famed Blind Date host role.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"OutCilla Black hosted the original series on ITV from 1985 to 2003 (Yui Mok\/PA)<\/p>\n

The original series aired on ITV from 1985 to 2003, hosted by Cilla Black, who often joked that she would need to buy a wedding hat when a couple seemed to hit it off.<\/p>\n

It was revived in 2017, with Paul O\u2019Grady quizzing the romantic hopefuls.<\/p>\n

Higgins, from Ballymahon in Co Longford, presents Love Island USA spin-off show Aftersun.<\/p>\n

She was a contestant on I\u2019m A Celebrity\u2026 Get Me Out Of Here! in 2024 and will be taking to the dance floor on Dancing With The Stars \u2013 the US version of Strictly Come Dancing \u2013 this autumn.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maura Higgins will host a reboot of the classic British TV series Blind Date for Disney+. The Irish…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":605506,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60],"class_list":["post-605505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=605505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/605505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/605506"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=605505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=605505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=605505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}