A couple who met on hit TV show Dinner Date and wooed each other with their cooking skills have broken up after nine years together - after he failed to cook for her again. Jemma Simpson and Edd Rodgers seemed like a match made in heaven when they appeared on the ITV gameshow, and they went on to get married and have a child together.
On the show, Edd made a Thai curry and a filo pastry dessert, but that was the last time he showed off his culinary skills. They became the only pair on the show to marry, and while Jemma admits that Edd was good with the 'dishwasher and stuff', she finally had enough after nine years and now they have split.
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Jemma said: "He cooked for us on the show but then he didn't really cook me a single meal since. Neither of us are amazing cooks, Edd tended to just put things in the oven.
"He's never cooked me a three-course meal since, put it that way. He was quite good around the house, with the dishwasher and stuff.
"Although when he comes round now to see our daughter I usually still end up cooking for him now."
Despite the lack of cooking from Edd, Jemma says their break-up had nothing to do with food.
The couple decided to call it quits after they drifted apart and started sleeping in separate beds.
They welcomed their daughter - the show’s only Dinner Date baby - in 2016 after meeting on the show six years earlier.
Dinner Date features lovelorn singletons cooking up a three-course storm for a lucky guy or girl.
The dates are picked on their menu alone and the losers end the show feasting on microwave meals - while the winner gets taken out for a slap-up meal with their date.
Jemma, 39, picked fireman Edd, 42, on the show in 2010, despite not liking the sound of his Thai curry main.
She had previously appeared on Take Me Out but hadn't found love there.
She fell for Edd's filo pastry pudding and the pair went on to enjoy a fancy dinner together - complete with a cheeky snog after the cameraman went home.
They got married in 2013, shortly after Edd appeared on another daytime TV show, Deal or No Deal - winning a whopping £18,000.
But the couple decided to call it quits after struggling through three years of IVF and becoming "more like flatmates" once their daughter, Ember, was born in November 2016.
Jemma said Edd's gruelling work schedule and long hours as a fireman and a shift in their relationship after Ember's birth led to a mutual decision to split three years ago - although she insists they are still friends.
The salon owner from Alvechurch, Worcsestershire, explained: "We just grew apart really.
"We tried for a long time through IVF to have our daughter, and then when we had her I think the struggle of being new parents was quite tough on us.
"It's weird, because you think having this baby is going to be the answer to all your problems - but then it's not really.
"It just creates new ones."
She added: "Edd worked really long hours, and shifts, we just grew apart. We are still on good terms now though and we're friends."
She said that the couple always had a very loving relationship and got on very well - even as the spark started to fade.
Although she admitted that after meeting on the show Edd never cooked another three-course meal for her again - but he did recreate his chocolate and filo pastry dessert for her and it even became a bit of a hit among her friends as it was so tasty.
She described how their marriage was "plain sailing" and they "hit it off" the minute they met.
And they loved the weird way that the universe brought them together, playing the episode for Ember when she was old enough to understand.
Jemma said: "We sometimes put it on the telly for her and she says 'mummy and daddy' and laughs.
"Although I don’t know if you can really grasp the concept at six-years-old."
Ember was delighted to have a little sister when Jemma's other daughter, Neve, was born in 2020.
She met her dad on Tinder, but they have also since split and Jemma remains single.
Jemma said: "She was over the moon, they're like two peas in a pod. It's so cute, they're adorable together.
"And Edd gets on so well with her too, they are so close it's really sweet.
"She sees more of Edd than she does of her own dad."
Now Jemma, who has been single for "quite a long time", feels ready to move on and find love again.
And she's keen to get back on the telly to do it.
She said: "WelI I feel like it did work for me in the past, and I've been single now for quite a while.
"Now the girls are a bit older, I do feel ready to date again.
"I was thinking about applying for First Dates or First Dates Hotel."
Edd declined to comment when approached.
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