I used to be on The Undateables – the quantity we truly bought paid and the way lengthy it took to movie a single date left me fully surprised

The Undateables was one of Channel 4‘s most popular shows, becoming beloved by fans for being heartwarming, funny, and sometimes moving.

The reality series chronicled the lives of people living with disabilities or learning difficulties who were looking for love, for 11 series from 2012 to 2020.

The BAFTA-nominated show worked alongside dating agency, Flame Introductions, to match couples on dates, with some finding their happily ever after, including marriages and babies.

Charlotte Badiali appeared on series nine back in 2018, when she was a 22-year-old student from Lincolnshire.

The self confessed movie nerd has Asperger’s Syndrome and admitted on the show she had struggled to find love due to her honesty and eagerness.

Laying out the qualities she was looking for in a boyfriend, she said: ‘I’m a sucker for romance, that’s what I want, just someone to hug and stuff. I just love hugs. [I want] someone who’s nice, nerdy probably and a good sense of humour.’

Charlotte quickly won over many fans with her sweet and friendly nature and love of hugs, and returned to the show in its final series in 2020.

She had grown in independence, having moved into her own place and begun working as a cleaner at Tesco‘s, but lamented that she still had not found a partner.

She said at the time: ‘I want to be in love. I’m 23 now, people are starting to get engaged and everything like that and I’m like, “Yeah, I’m still single. Anyone?’

Viewers got to watch he form a strong connection with cricketer Alex, during a pizza cooking date, as she later gushed: ‘It’s like my arteries are full of glitter. Maybe there was someone out there for me after all.’

Following her appearance on the show, Charlotte took to Reddit to do an Ask Me Anything, where she spilled many behind-the-scenes secrets about being on the show.

Asked what had made her decide to go on the show, she admitted she had applied on a whim after seeing that the show was looking for people.

And while she said she recommended the experience, she admitted that behind-the-scenes wasn’t as plain sailing as it looked, recalling long filming days and said they weren’t paid for their time on the show.

In her introductory post, Charlotte wrote: ‘Right, so there’s a show in the UK called The Undateables, where those with disabilities go on dates to find love and I was on season nine, Charlotte, the pink haired movie nerd who loves hugs! Any questions, fire away! I was on the show a total of four times over three episodes :)’.

Recalling how she got on the show, she said: ‘I just applied. I was watching another dating show and it said it was looking for people, had a look online and saw The Undateables was after people. 

‘Thought ‘f** it’ and emailed them, got a call back, invited for a Skype interview and what sold it were my collectibles falling and my reaction. Did some test filming the following week and had the call saying I was in the week after’.

After her first stint on the show in 2018, Charlotte opened up further to Lincolnshire Live about the application process, revealing it was her mum who encouraged her to have a go.

She explained: ‘It was a spur of the moment thing, I didn’t think I’d get as far as I did on it to be honest.

‘It had been something my mum had encouraged for a while seeing how I’m single and have Asperger’s, but I didn’t due to the perception the show had.’

Following her interview and filming test, she revealed that she got the call that she was cast while in a seminar at university, quipping: ‘I think the whole corridor pretty much heard.’

Ahead of her series airing on Channel 4, she admitted: ‘My journey to love has been very up and down. I have been single since June of last year and still looking.

‘I am looking forward to seeing myself on telly, even if it would be rather surreal because I’m just Charlotte. Tall, big, dark hair and understanding nerds apply within!’

Answering more questions on Reddit, Charlotte was asked if she would recommend the experience to others who were struggling to find love.

She said she had enjoyed the show and would recommend it, but admitted that she wasn’t paid for it and that the filming process had been very long, with multiple takes ‘taking its toll’.

She said: ‘Yes, I would recommend it, but unfortunately it’s not been updated for another series which is a bit s***. 

‘It was a lot of fun though and no, I didn’t get paid. However, everything was paid for, so in between filming, if I was hungry, then I was allowed to get a sandwich with their budget. 

‘The filming was surprisingly tiring and long as well! I think on the date day itself, it was around a ten hour day, and between takes, my date and I bonded over our mutual annoyance at how long it took.

‘The amount of takes definitely took a toll on us and there’d be like three or four tries with the chance that it might not end up on the show.’

Charlotte also added: ‘There was a lot cut out of the first episode I did, I had my hair dyed and we fed tigers as well’.

Despite many of its stars enjoying their experiences on the show, The Undateables has come under fire in the past, not least because of its controversial title.

Critics of the show often claimed it perpetuated stereotypes about people living with disabilities and other conditions.

However, when Charlotte was asked: ‘Was it as voyeuristic as it sounds?’, she replied that the only criticism she had was over how exaggerated her desire to find a partner was.

She wrote: ‘Just trying to work out what you mean, sorry, half asleep! I would say yes and no? 

‘I didn’t bulls*** on how the disability affects me and how I wanted love, but it was emphasised a lot. 

‘So in reality, I wouldn’t probably say how I’m so desperate it’s like Scar wanting to kill Mufasa, it’d be like “Welp, back on Tinder for me!”.’

But Charlotte revealed that despite her time on the show not leading to a relationship, she had succeeded in finding love on her own.

Asked if she had stayed in touch with any of her dates, she said: ‘Not on the show I haven’t! I do have a boyfriend now and that was through tinder :)’.

The Undateables attracted significant backlash during its run, with The Mirror and The Guardian zeroing in on the title as offensive, with Channel 4 insisting the name was based on society’s preconceptions.

While several doctors accused producers of exploiting the vulnerable for entertainment, including Dr Rachael Pickering who said: ‘The very name of this show is frankly offensive’

While she added that she was also concerned that people with conditions such as autism are not able to give proper consent.

‘How do these programmes’ producers ensure that participants who have autism or intellectual impairment can give truly informed consent to this potential consequence of them becoming reality TV stars?’ she asked.

However, Dr Anita Coutinho argued that the suggestion that the show’s participants were at greater risk of exploitation than others risked ‘creating further prejudice’.

She argued: ‘TV programmes are often exploitative in nature and where do you draw the line? Maybe the BMA should be contacting all reality TV programmes to check on the wellbeing of participants thrown out of X Factor, or the young drink tourists being filmed in Magaluf.

‘Ultimately this programme seems to look at people with challenging conditions who are considered to be undateable, but then proves that they are not.

‘It is in fact raising awareness of these conditions, normalising what people sadly see as abnormal.’

While Ciara Lawrence, a spokesperson for Mencap, who has a learning disability, added: ‘As someone with a learning disability, I think that people with a learning disability have a right to go out on dates, meet partners and to have relationships.

‘Often, on TV, people with a learning disability are shown in a certain way and that this can be aimed at making fun of them.

‘However, I think having real people with disabilities dealing with real life issues is really important and valuable to have on our TV screens.

‘I was worried by the shows name at first but overall think it is good that Channel 4 has a series that has helped to show positive stories of people with a disability.