‘It taught me about brainwashing’: how reality show stars fell for a fake Prince Harry

Airing on Fox in the US before making its way to ITV2, the reality show consisted of the dozen potential girlfriends being whisked to a secluded mansion in the Berkshire countryside, then going on a series of dates with the fake prince.

It was constantly implied by the production team that they were in the presence of royalty: Harry was even referred to as “sir”, when really he was plain old Matt Hicks, an environmental consultant from Exeter who had had his hair dyed ginger.

The stunts for the ruse were quite something: from “sir” being whisked away by men in sunglasses after a “security incident”, to fake paparazzi invading a date before being tackled to the ground.

Fake Harry was even Photoshopped into an image alongside the real Prince William for a potential date to stumble across while Hicks went to the bathroom.

Rather, they had applied for a show called Dream Date, which offered them the chance to find love (and of course appear on television and possibly build a career).

Hopefully my podcast will serve as a handy reminder: next time you’re laughing at someone behaving moronically on a reality show, remember that you never know what sneaky tricks have been going on behind the scenes.