This is going to be TV gold says Blackpool's Ryan Ruckledge who stars in Love Triangle series two

32-year-old Ryan Ruckledge, a tanning business owner from Blackpool is starring in the the E4 dating show Love Triangle which returned for its second series last night.

The show sees six singles (called pickers) choose between two handpicked partners (suitors), based on a connection made only by texting.

The single and their chosen match meet on a blind date before moving in together, in the hope of fast-tracking their relationship but what the singles don’t know, is that the pursuit of a ‘happy ever after’ comes with an explosive twist, when the rejected match arrives looking for love.

After living with both new partners in a newly-formed Love Triangle, each single then faces an agonising final decision: who will they choose... their want or their need?

Former Collegiate High School pupil Ryan, who has also starred in Big Brother and the X Factor, is one of the suitors in the new series so find out what he had to say about the show and his love life below.

How would you describe Love Triangle?

“It's very chaotic!”

So why did you sign up for it?

“I'll be honest. I'm probably the only person out of my friendship group that's single, like, I literally come home on a night tim, I'm putting Netflix on, I'm making a meal for one, I'm paying for a Chinese all by myself. I'm like, I should be sharing this with somebody, like sharing the bill, they're expensive! But no, I just want to find love at the end of the day and I just feel like, now's my time. Do you know what I mean? Like, I've been single five years, so it's a long time. So what better way to throw yourself onto a reality show to try and find love.”

Was it what you expected?

“No, it wasn't - in a good way, in a good way -but it was a lot. It was a lot more intense than what I thought - in fact, very intense. I'm not a very emotional person like outside of the programme. So in day to day life. I don't really speak about my feelings and emotions, I kind of brush them under the carpet a little bit, I'm a bit of a closed book. I'm very open in certain ways but when it comes to my feelings and my emotions and being vulnerable, I am not and on that program like you literally get to see every single side of me -the good, the bad and the ugly- and yeah, it was a lot like I was taken back by it, but it was the best thing that I ever did.”

In the show, you reject someone, and then you find out they have to come live with you, how did you feel when you found that out?

“To be honest with you, I wasn't really thinking about the other person. I was just trying to live in the moment. So obviously I chose the first person to begin with because I found that was a better connection and a better spark, and I was getting more banter andmore flirtatious vibes from them, so I wasn't really thinking about the other person. But obviously, when it came to it, it was a mixed emotions. I don't obviously want to give too much away because I can't say what happens on the program but I mean, I enjoyed it.”

What were you hoping to get out of the show? E.g did you have a type? Have you got previous dating experiences that you've learned from?

“I mean, I have a type, whether I get the type or not, you'll have to find out! But I did ask for, like, the tall, dark, tattooed, turkey teeth Scouser who works on a building type, whether I get that or not, you'll have to see. But I was very open to going on this program. Obviously, in the past, like I've not had successful relationships. I've been cheated on in the past, I have been in love before but it didn't work out the way that I wanted it to. So this time, I just went in there with a very open mind and just thought, you know what, if you get fronted with somebody that isn't your type - we actually get matched with these people by professional experts so they obviously beforehand we have a chat, we say what our interests are and our back stories and they put us together, thinking that we could actually, genuinely work. So I just kind of put my trust in them, really, and just thought ‘throw yourself in there, in the deep end’. I said to myself as well, even if they're not your type - because on the outside world, if you go on a date and on first impressions you're like ‘oh, they're not for me’, I'd be out the fire exit door, I'd be off- but on this, you have to sometimes be like, look, if they're not what you have described, you have to see past that and think give it a shot and not just pull out of it straight away. You've got to look past the exterior.”

You've hinted at that it there but did you learn anything from the show about yourself or other people?

“I learnt I am probably more opinionated than I should be. I am very, very, very opinionated. Sometimes I don't think before I speak, and it can cause a lot of drama, as you will probably see on the programme. I'm involved in 90% of the drama on the show, but I wouldn't say it's a bad thing, I don't sit on the fence. There's no airs and graces like I am, what I am, if you don't like me, I couldn't give a s****. We're not going to please everyone at the end of the day.

“I also learned that I do need to be very open and I need to be more vulnerable with my friends and a bit more like if something's playing on my mind, or I do have problems, to speak about them because I don't know. For example, if you’ve ever been for counseling or therapy, you find it a lot easier to offload on people that are not close to you, rather than your close family and friends. Obviously, when I went on this experiment, I didn't know any of these people, and we all had different stories to tell, and it was just so nice to be so open. I felt like it was one big counseling session, but, yeah, I've learned to be a bit more open.”

How are you feeling about the fact it's going to air soon?

“Mixed emotions. I'm nervous, I'm scared, I'm excited. I know there's going to be a few arguments in there that I'm involved in that I'm probably going to have to watch looking behind a cushion. It's mad because obviously it was so intense and so much happens. Obviously, you only see 45 minutes... of a programme but these days are long. Like you could be filming from nine in the morning, and then if you're having like a dinner party, they don't finish till 12 at night. So it's full days filming, like there's that much that goes on in one day [that] one day feels like a week. So I've kind of forgot half the stuff what's happened, like when I had a chat with a lady yesterday about like contribution to the show to say what's going to be airing, I'm forgetting half the things that's happened. I'm like, oh, did that happen? So I'm going to be watching it and thinking, s***, I forgot about that.”

Did any of the filming take place in your hometown?

“The back story, like they came to my hometown did like a VT type interview thing around Blackpool and on the beach and stuff like that, and a night out with my friends, which you'll see anyway. But other than that, it was mainly filmed in Manchester.”

How do you think people at home, your friends and family will react to the show?

“Well, to be honest, I've done reality TV before. In the past, I went on Big Brother in 2016 and I was a lot younger there. I don't think I was in the right head space for a reality show then, I think I've grown and matured a lot. I'm still very immature but, like, I did stuff on that program that I wouldn't say I was best proud of, like, I did intimate things on TV, which was like put out there to millions of people, and it's always going to be out there. That was something that I kind of regret now, looking back. So I kind of said to myself that I wasn't really going to do a reality show again, not because I had a bad experience on Big Brother, because I didn't and I don't want to make it about that show, but I'm saying I learned a lot from that. And I thought ‘do I want to do this again? And what about if, like, I make an idiot of myself?’ But I thought, ‘you know what, I'm a lot more mature now, I'm in the right head space, and I genuinely am looking to find love. So I just thought ‘you know what, just do it. like this opportunity is a once in a lifetime’, and I'm so glad that I did it. It it was the best thing. It was better than any other experience I’ve ever had.”

Why should people from Lancashire tune in to watch it?

“Oh god. why should they watch this show? Well, I could think plenty of reasons not to because my arguments are going to be quite bad! but trust me, now there's Do much that's involved in this programME, like you will see so many sides to different people, myself included. When I say I don't think you're going to have seen a more chaotic reality show like I am a massive reality TV fan, I watch every single reality show. I'm obsessed with them all, but living this, I just know that this is going to be probably one of the most fiery, explosive, most - biggest roller coaster journeys that you'll ever watch. Everyone will be hooked. For any reality TV junkies, this is going to be TV gold.”

Final question, without revealing whether you meet the one -have you got any plans for after the show, that you want to mention?

“To be honest with you, I learned a lot about myself on the programme, and I don't really want to give too much away, but I kind of went on a journey on the programme of learning a lot of emotions about myself and how to be in a relationship and stuff like that. I just feel like I've got a lot of self healing to do in myself that I've learnt from the programme which - I'm just going on a massive self healing journey moving forward. I'm not expecting anything from the programme. I went in there for love, whether I find it or not, you'll have to sww I just know that it was the best thing that I ever did.”