She went on Take
Me Out and he went
on Love Machine but
then found each other
Couple went on different dating shows but ended up falling for each other and are now engaged and expecting first child
As she filled out the online application form for hit ITV dating show Take Me Out, Danielle Cornwall-Nash felt a flutter of excitement.
Perhaps she would meet the man of her dreams. As far as outgoing Danielle was concerned, just a fun night on the tiles with a handsome bloke would be good too.
But the appearance on the show exceeded her wildest dreams. She bagged herself a future husband.
Only, he wasn’t the man who picked her for a date from the 30 hopeful women on the programme hosted by Bolton comedian Paddy McGuinness.
It was Luke Hobson, an old flame from five years before, who was at home watching in disbelief as Danielle appeared on the screen.
Luke sent her a Facebook message, and within days they met up again.
After a fortnight they moved in with each other. They are now engaged and are expecting their first child together.
Amazingly, Luke had also been a contestant on a dating show – The Love Machine, on Sky Living – which aired shortly after Danielle appeared on Take Me Out.
Loved-up Danielle, 23, says: “Luke and I dated when we were 18 but we split up when I moved from Leeds back home to Blackpool.
“I thought about him a couple of times but we were young and it wasn’t meant to be back then.
“But meeting up with Luke again was absolutely amazing.
“I’m a huge believer in fate and everything that’s happened over the past six years has shown me that if things are meant to be, they happen.
“If two people are meant to be together, they find a way back together which is exactly what we did.”
They became engaged after Luke proposed on Blackpool’s North Pier via a big screen – a nod to how they ended up being reunited.
Luke, 24, beams: “I’m so happy we got back together. Danielle’s my best friend and I couldn’t imagine not seeing her even for one day.”
Looking at the happy couple joking and messing about, it is hard to imagine how very nearly they were never reunited.
The couple, who now run a sales company, met through mutual friends in 2008 on a night out in Luke’s home city of Leeds. Danielle, who was on a one-year media course at Leeds University, was in a club with a friend who was dating one of Luke’s pals.
“We just hit it off,” recalls Luke. “We’re both quite outgoing and have the same sense of humour and we just got on so well.”
Danielle says, laughing: “I remember the first thing he said to me was something about my boobs.
“But it wasn’t a comment that deserved a slap. I remember thinking, ‘You’ve really got me in hysterics’.
“He was so charming. He danced, he sang and he wasn’t afraid of being silly. That’s what attracted me to him.”
They became a couple over the next few months but with the end of Danielle’s course in sight, she realised she would have to go back to her parents’ home in Blackpool, Lancs.
She says: “I’d been in a serious relationship before and I didn’t want to get in another. So one day I dropped Luke off at the gym where he worked thinking, ‘I’m going to have to tell him I don’t want to see him any more’. I didn’t know how to do it, so – and it was awful – I dropped him a little text message saying, ‘See you later’.
“I live to regret it now! He never lets me live it down. But if it hadn’t happened how it did, we’d never be together now.”
Luke says: “It’s one of those things that if we got together then, we wouldn’t have worked out now. But I was gutted when she left. She’d just come out of a relationship and didn’t want anything serious.
“Whereas I’d not had a serious relationship before and really liked her. But we never held it against each other.” In fact it was Luke who got into another relationship first, as Danielle discovered after she had moved back to Blackpool.
“I’d have the odd Facebook stalk and see what he was up to,” she says.
“And I remember him going into another relationship. I guess I knew it was going to happen, and I couldn’t really say anything as I had called off the relationship.”
Eventually, Danielle met someone else too and had a two-year romance. Luke’s relationship lasted three years.
Unbeknown to each other, they then both turned to television in their efforts to find love.
Luke was waiting for a train in Manchester in 2012 when he was approached to take part in The Love Machine, hosted by former Radio 1 DJ Chris Moyles and X Factor contestant Stacey Solomon.
Luke, who was labelled as “elephant ears” on the show that aired last year, was not picked to go on a date.
But failing to find love soon turned out to be a blessing in disguise.
Danielle had been enjoying a few drinks at home with friends when she “drunkenly” decided to apply to appear on Take Me Out.
Dan, from London, picked her to go on a date. They got on well but there was no spark. However something definitely reignited for Luke as he sat at home.
He says: “I was watching with my house-mates, and when Dannii came on I said, ‘I used to see that girl’.
“None of them believed me, but I said her name was Dannii and it was only when her name came up that they believed me.”
A few days later Luke sent her a message on Facebook. Danielle says: “Although I hadn’t spoken to him in so long I knew who he was straight away.”
She adds: “I was surprised to see his message but we swapped numbers and spoke on the phone. There was no awkwardness. It was very comfortable.”
Coincidentally, Danielle was due to go to a meeting with a friend in Leeds at the beginning of February, and Luke offered them a place to stay.
Danielle says: “We drove up and as soon as I saw Luke he gave me a massive cuddle and that was it.
“It was like we’d never been apart, the six years just melted away.”
With a broad smile, Luke adds: “She looked amazing. We hit it off again so well. Two days later, on Valentine’s Day, I went to her house in Blackpool to meet her parents. I was only supposed to be there for a day but ended up taking the week off to stay.
“I was head over heels by the end of it, but didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to be a soppy bugger.”
But the feeling was mutual. Just a fortnight later, Danielle had packed her bags to move to Leeds to be with Luke. They started their online
business selling party equipment and decided to try for a baby.
business selling party equipment and decided to try for a baby.
Now, they are weeks from their due date in March and are preparing for their wedding after Luke proposed on New Year’s Eve, Danielle’s birthday.
“I was so taken aback I forgot to say ‘yes’,” Danielle laughs.
“But I knew I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him.
“I went on Take Me Out looking for a laugh. I never really expected to find love on it. But I’ve got the show to thank for everything.
“Without it, I would have never been reunited with my soulmate.”
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/real-life-stories/went-take-out-went-love-3106491#ixzz2siO7pYBM
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