{"id":596558,"date":"2026-08-26T12:40:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:40:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/596558\/"},"modified":"2026-08-26T12:40:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-26T12:40:10","slug":"disney-confirms-love-island-icon-maura-higgins-as-new-blind-date-host","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/596558\/","title":{"rendered":"Disney+ confirms Love Island icon Maura Higgins as new Blind Date host"},"content":{"rendered":"

Disney+<\/a> has confirmed that Love Island icon Maura Higgins will host the reboot of Blind Date.<\/p>\n

Higgins will take the position once held by Cilla Black, who hosted the dating show from 1985 to 2003 on ITV.<\/p>\n

Higgins quickly became a household name following her appearance on the ITV2 reality series Love Island in 2019 and has since gone on to carve an impressive television career. As well as the host of the US edition of Aftersun, she was also a contestant on The Traitors US and is set to appear on Dancing with the Stars this year.<\/p>\n

Disney+ first announced the revival<\/a> in June 2025, revealing that the 10-part series would begin in a secret Blind Date location, where contestants must choose between three potential suitors, hidden from view behind the legendary wall.<\/p>\n

The streamer has promised a host of “unique, innovative and head-turning format twists,” as the daters see if forever love could truly grow as they spend the summer living together, but potential new partners are always lurking behind the wall.<\/p>\n

\"Maura<\/p>\n

Maura Higgins.\u00a0Monica Schipper\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Angela Jain, head of content, Disney+ EMEA, said (via Broadcast): “Maura is the perfect match for our version of Blind Date. Her 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

“We\u2019re very 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.”<\/p>\n

It was reported earlier this summer that Higgins was in advanced discussions<\/a> to host the series.<\/p>\n

A source said at the time: “Discussions are at an advanced stage, with the show\u2019s producers convinced Maura\u2019s the perfect choice for the job.<\/p>\n

“Not only did she shoot to fame on a TV dating contest, she is now an internationally famous face which is what a global service like Disney need for one of their shows.<\/p>\n

“Maura also has an unquestionable glamour combined with cheeky charm which has echoes of Blind Date\u2019s most famous host.”<\/p>\n

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Blind Date will be available to stream on Disney+.<\/p>\n

Check out more of our Entertainment<\/a> coverage or visit our TV Guide<\/a> and Streaming Guide<\/a> to find out what’s on. For more TV recommendations and reviews, listen to The Radio Times Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Disney+ has confirmed that Love Island icon Maura Higgins will host the reboot of Blind Date. Higgins will…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":596559,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[146,85,46,411],"class_list":["post-596558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596558","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=596558"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/596558\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/596559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=596558"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=596558"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=596558"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}