Rate My Takeaway host Danny Malin announced a new relationship last year, 22 months after his fiancé tragically died from a heart attack, leaving him as a single father to three boys.
Danny shared the happy news on social media by sharing a picture of himself and new girlfriend Sophie Mei Lan. Ever since Carrie Taylor, 40, died in February 2021, Danny assumed he'd just live out his days as a single-dad, just focusing on what's best for his children.
But that all changed when he met Sophie, who he met through work, as romance blossomed, they met more and more for coffees and enjoyed each other's company. She made him "laugh and giggle" and has been "supportive and understanding" of his family's situation.
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Here is everything you need to know about Sophie Mei Lan from her Britain's Got Talent audition to career in journalism - and of course her blossoming romance with Leeds' Danny Malin.
Sophie is born and bred in Yorkshire, she was born in Sheffield but has lived most her adult life in Wakefield - she is a single mum to her two daughters and was married to her ex-MasterChef husband - who she met at a gym while she was teaching belly dancing.
Rewind to her early career and education, Sophie got a degree in Philosophy and Italian and a Post-Grad Diploma (NCTJ) in Journalism. Sophie is now a blogger, vlogger and publicist working from home in Yorkshire, she is a fitness fanatic, in between work and family life, as well as being a life-long Vegetarian.
The blogger has grown her channels to having almost 50,000 subscribers of YouTube who watch her entertaining vlogs of wellbeing, mental health and neurodiversity. She has also got over 9,000 followers on Instagram where she blogs about her daily life - Sophie has gone on to win awards for her vlog including, Mental Health Vlog of the Year.
During her career as a vlogger she has gone on to be a multi-award-winning freelance journalist. Since winning an Amnesty International Human Rights Media Award in 2011 for a human trafficking investigation, she has since worked on her own stories for Channel 4 News, ITV News, The Guardian and BBC News - as well as being a wellness coach and freelance journalist for Yorkshire Post.
One of Sophie's main hobbies has always been belly dancing, from teaching it at gyms to auditioning as a belly dancer on Britain's Got Talent in 2008 at the age of 19, where she was called 'cute' by Simon Cowell and given three yes' by the judges.
She also broke the world record for getting the biggest number of people simultaneously belly dancing and helped Simon Cowell choose the set design for The X Factor.
Fast-forward through her exciting career as a journalist and blogger, Sophie met her true match in 2022, Danny Malin, a Yorkshire food blogger. Sophie and Danny first met through work - the pair had interviewed each other for stories and on radio - they became friends and used to meet up for coffees.
And in December 2022 Danny announced he had asked Sophie to marry him, the newly engaged couple haven't shared any plans for a wedding yet. Announcing the news on Instagram, Sophie wrote: “I never thought the love of my life would come packaged in a Santa top, with a Gregg’s coffee (upgraded now to Starbucks) in hand and with an accent almost as #Yorkshire sounding as mine,” Sophie told her followers. “But while there’s been a lot of belly laughter to the point a dentist in #Barnsley said I’d locked my jaw (not just wet ma sen), we’ve had a lot of heart to hearts and tears of relief after a rollercoaster ride in our lives before meeting one another (to say the least).
“Danny Malin and I had been surviving just getting through each day. Life didn’t seem worth living other than for our precious kids who came first and always will. But we had both been just getting through each day with as much work and laughter as possible yet most days were sidelined with lonely nights until we met.”
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