THEY could have been made for each other – but not in the romantic way most viewers were led to believe.
As Wen-Jing Mo and Aaron Withers walked off hand-in-hand for their dream date on ITV’s hit show Take Me Out, both hid a sleazy secret.
First – as the Mirror first reported on Tuesday– Withers, 32, was exposed as a £50-an-hour escort with a conviction for punching a girl in a pub.
And today, in a sensational new twist, we can exclusively reveal that Wen, 28, also once used to sell sexual favours – as a £200-an-hour hooker.
Embarrassed TV bosses have now axed the couple from this Saturday’s show, when their exotic date in Cyprus was due to be screened.
The latest shock came as pretty Wen admitted she turned to prostitution at the age of 18 in a desperate bid to pay her mounting bills.
She said: “Looking back now of course I regret doing it – but at the time it was a lifeline for me. I think a lot of other people in my position would do the same if it meant they could eat properly – I saw it as a matter of survival.”
Wen revealed that she signed up for a central London escort agency which had a lot of wealthy clients – and it wasn’t long before they hooked her up with her first punter at a five-star hotel in the city.
She said: “He was a very well-off businessman, but to my surprise he actually turned me away from his suite saying I wasn’t thin enough for him – although he paid me anyway.
“Unfortunately not all of the clients turned out to be as nice, and I quickly learned the importance of looking after myself while working. But it was a huge relief just to be able to pay my bills again – like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders.”
Wen blamed her troubled upbringing and money troubles for forcing her into such a tawdry way of life.
She said: “I was only 18 at the time – barely an adult – and I’d spent most of my childhood living in a care home.
“I’d moved to London a year earlier but I was only earning £120-a-week as an apprentice hairdresser with mounting bills to pay, when the salon went bust.
“I hadn’t paid the council tax for almost a year, and there was a CCJ against me when the hairdresser went out of business, and after six weeks without pay I was getting really desperate.”
It was after losing her job that a friend told her she could earn £1,000 a night as a high class escort.
She spent six months saving the cash – often as much as £3,000 per week – and used it to pay her way through hairdressing college, before taking a job in the property sector.
Wen said: “Looking back at that period of my life is incredibly difficult for me – and some of the memories are seriously unpleasant.
“I’ve worked hard to block a lot of them out and start again, but some of the clients were very rude and obnoxious – very scary sometimes.” She added: “On at least one occasion I threw the guy’s cash back in his face and ran off. Often I was just grateful just to get away safely.”
Wen has kept her dark secret from friends and family for fear of being judged or of damaging her career.
And she decided not to reveal it to ITV bosses, explaining that she hoped to find romance on the show.
She said: “When I applied to go on Take Me Out I was genuinely looking for love. I’ve moved on with my life and the show seemed like a good fun way of perhaps meeting someone new.
“I didn’t want my past to get in the way of that, or for anyone to prejudge me.” And she says can also feel some sympathy for 5ft 5in Aaron.
She added: “I wouldn’t judge him about his work as an escort, but his criminal conviction is totally different – and he absolutely should take responsibility for that.”
Our new revelations will heap more embarrassment on ITV who are already under fire for not doing proper background checks on contestants.
A TV source said: “The fact that both the stars of its first show have worked as escorts is incredible to say the least. It’s hardly the sort of image that ITV would want to be associated with.”
