ROBERT Rinder might exude confidence in the courtroom but when it comes to dating he’s guilty of going to pieces when he first meets a potential love interest.
The telly judge and Sun columnist admits that he has “no capacity to be normal” after a disastrous experience with Fleabag heart-throb Andrew Scott.
In an exclusive interview with Bizarre TV, Rob said: “My thing is that if I’m in any way attracted to somebody, I have no capacity to be normal.
“I’m like Hugh Grant in Four Weddings And A Funeral – on acid.” According to the star, his encounter with Andrew, where he asked him on a date to Ouagadougou — the capital of Burkina Faso in West Africa — is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to awkward encounters.
He laughed: “The person I know I couldn’t meet is Taron Egerton. I was on a plane going to Los Angeles and he was with an aunt.
“I was desperate to go to the loo and I couldn’t go because he was going to know I was looking.
“So I had to spend three hours holding it in.”
Rob’s pal even banned him from chatting to English actor Russell Tovey at a recent premiere. Rob added: “My friend said to me, ‘Don’t go and speak to him it’s not going to go well. There’s just no point’.”
However, when it comes to match-making for pals, Rob is a pro, with five marriages under his belt already.
He said: “I would like to host a dating show but the difficulty is, the questions I want to ask are too filthy and they simply wouldn’t broadcast them. I would just want to ask the things everyone wants to know.”
Rob’s new Channel 4 show, The Rob Rinder Verdict, which starts tomorrow, sees him cast an eye over topics such as masculinity, living off-grid and “straight pride”.
So what’s the verdict on his own love life?
He says: “I’d be the equivalent of being sentenced to life, but not in a good way.
“Put it this way — useless. It has the same range and joy as an airline salad.”
ROB has issued some frank advice to moaning celebs – get over your selfies.
He said: “Anybody that complains saying, ‘It’s so difficult being in the public eye, people ask me for selfies’ – I say pull your f***ing self together.”
Rob admits that the people behind the scenes on his shows should be the ones getting the praise after his Who Do You Think You Are? episode landed a Bafta.
He added: “The thing about telly is everyone does everything for you when you’re in front of the camera and you get all of the f***ing credit.
“It’s absolutely ridiculous. Like when I did my Who Do You Think You Are? People came up to me and said, ‘Your programme is amazing’.
“It’s like standing by the goal in football – everyone does the work, the ball comes over and you kick it in.
“Everyone’s like, ‘Your programme is so amazing’. I stood there, I experienced it and I cried, I did nothing.”
THE Rob Rinder Verdict airs on C4 at 10pm tomorrow. Guests include Jonathan Ross and comic Judi Love (Rob’s mum Angie makes a cameo).
Also chatting is comedian Tom Allen who travels with Rob, above with Tom, to Venice to visit “a death pod” built by a euthanasia expert.
I’m assured it’s covered in a light-hearted way.
ROB has an unlikely dream guest for his chat show sofa – US singer and rapper Lizzo.
He is infatuated with the Detroit-born star, known for her song Juice, after a pal introduced him.
Asked who he’d like to see on the sofa, he said: “At the moment it would be Lizzo but then my answer to every question at the moment is Lizzo.
“Who do you want to marry? Lizzo. Who’s the greatest living artist? Lizzo.”
Explaining how his obsession began, Rob added: “I like female hip- hop and grime artists. People are often surprised when I say that.”
Everyday items and big-name celebs get the Judge’s verdict here…
