'IN MY LIFE, I'M QUITE OBSESSED WITH HAVING A GOOD TIME'

TV favourite Fred Sirieix on feeling festive, finding true love and helping others do the same in First Dates Beach Club

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First Dates star Fred Sirieix is on fine form as we catch up on a video call, where he speaks to us from the study of his South East London townhouse.

The French accent, the twinkle in his eye and the innate confidence are quite a heady mixture, and they've helped make him a household name here in his adopted country.

The straight-talking Limoges native chats happily about life with the woman he affectionately calls "Fruitcake". They tied the knot in an idyllic ceremony at the Pattoo Castle in Jamaica in February, and almost a year on, judging by the smile on his face, married life is clearly suiting the 53-year-old. "It's going really well," he says, in that slightly anglicised but unmistakably French accent we know and love from his years on our TV screens.

"We're having a good time," he says. "There are lots of fun conversations - and lots of silly arguments. They might be about me not wiping the counter properly, or not sweeping the floor - even though I was planning on doing it later. These kinds of things."

Domestic disputes aside, Fred and Fruitcake work - he's just not entirely sure why, he laughs.

"We are very different," he explains. "We're chalk and cheese in our characters and our approach to life. But we enjoy each other's company - and the stupidity of our own jokes! Oh, and we don't mind farting in front of each other. That's important in a relationship.

Following their dream wedding, Fred and his other half were hoping to return to Jamaica a year on, but then the devastating Hurricane Melissa hit in October - and it's evidently a source of great sadness for Fred to see the nation suffering in its aftermath. "It's agonising to see, really," he says. "I love the Jamaicans, I love their country and we've had some amazing times there. The damage has been estimated at 10 billion dollars.