Handsome soap star signs up to celebrity dating app Raya and returns to UK to find love

The Irish Sun

20-07-2025

RICKY WHITTLE has come back to London to look for love.
The ex-Hollyoaks actor, who moved to Los Angeles to work in Hollywood, has signed up to celebrity dating app Raya.
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One of Ricky's pictures shows him running down the street topless
Credit: Supplied
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Another picture shows him cuddling a quokka
Credit: Supplied
One of my pals spotted his profile on the app, with one picture showing him cuddling a quokka and another of him running shirtless through a street.
'It's like he's saying I'm cuddly, hot and very available,' my mate said.
'His profile popped up a couple of weeks ago. It says he's an actor who lives in LA but was visiting London.
'Given how good he looks, I bet he had loads of people swiping on his profile.'
READ MORE ON RICKY WHITTLE
And judging by how well Raya is working for some in the capital, I'm not surprised Ricky is trying his luck back on home ground.
Last month I revealed
Ricky is best known over here for playing Calvin Valentine on Hollyoaks.
After his character was killed off in 2010, Ricky moved abroad and has starred in shows including The 100 and American Gods.
Most read in Bizarre
He previously thanked Hollyoaks for giving him the best start in acting, saying: 'It's an education.
"My character went from being the good guy, to the bad guy to the club owner, to the policeman, to your sister's on drugs, to you'd killed someone and then he's back to life.'
I hope Ricky's experience on Raya is less of a rollercoaster than his on-screen Hollyoaks life.
Ricky Whittle looks unrecognisable xx years after starring in Hollyoaks
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Carmel (Gemma Merna) and Calvin (Ricky Whittle) get married on Hollyoaks
Credit: Handout
REUNION FOR JACKSON THREE
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Jackie and Marlon briefly introduced sister Janet Jackson to the stage at their Heritage Live Festivals show
Credit: Heritage Live Festivals
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The Jacksons are one of the most famous musical families of all time
Credit: Getty
THERE was an impromptu reunion for one of the most famous musical families of all time when
The group, now touring as brothers Jackie and Marlon, briefly introduced their chart-topping sister to the stage at their Heritage Live Festivals show at Englefield Estate near Reading.
All For You singer Janet, who lives in London, hasn't been on stage in the UK since her critically acclaimed tour here last autumn.
But with The Jacksons still going – they have another show in Audley End in Essex on July 31 – I'm hoping they can persuade her to entertain us again soon.
DO NOT BELIEVE ALL YOU SIA
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Sia was snapped hand in hand with fellow Aussie Harry Jowsey
Credit: Getty
SIA has seemingly wasted no time moving from her husband Daniel Bernad after filing for divorce in March.
The singer was snapped hand in hand with fellow Aussie Harry Jowsey, a reality star two decades her junior, who found fame on Netflix dating show Too Hot To Handle.
I use the word 'seemingly' because they are both notorious jokers, and this cosy snap of them heading out to dinner in LA looks like a hoax to me.
It certainly isn't a 'romance' I saw coming.
RACY J-LO SHOW IS A GIFT
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Jennifer Lopez pulls off racy moves on stage
Credit: EPA
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She was thrown about by hunky dancers during a particularly steamy routine
Credit: TNI Press
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Jennifer, who is currently on tour, played Tenerife at the weekend
Credit: TNI Press
Currently on a tour of some of the most random locations around Europe, she played Tenerife at the weekend, where it looked like she was recreating positions from The Joy Of Sex.
The Jenny From The Block singer got on all fours and was thrown about by hunky dancers during a particularly steamy routine.
I can only hope I'm still that flexible when I'm in my fifties – and I'm sure my fella does too.
As well as the tour, J-Lo is giving fans a gift for her own big day by announcing a single called Birthday.
Encouraging fans to pre-save it online, she wrote: 'It's my birthday and you're all invited. Party details on Thursday.'
Something tells me she won't be gorging on mountains of cake like the rest of us.
RICK: I'M GUNNA TEAM UP
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Rick Astley reveals whether work has begun on his tenth album
Credit: Getty
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He wants to work with Blossoms on original music
Credit: Alamy
The gigs with the indie band went down a storm and now the Never Gonna Give You Up singer has admitted he doesn't want to, er, give them up.
In an exclusive chat with Bizarre, he said: 'Obviously Blossoms are amazing players, great musicians, and great writers. And I kind of think, yeah, it would be great to do something.
'We have talked occasionally about doing something, but I don't know what that would be.
'I'm always a bit nervous of it, because one of the weird things is, I want to keep my friends as friends, and I don't want to go through a recording process and fall out with them.'
But fans have a wait on their hands for a follow-up to 2023's Are We There Yet?.
Asked if he'd begun work on his tenth album, Rick said: 'No, we're having a quiet one this year, but I was in my studio this morning. I like tinkering. Who knows, we'll see.
'I don't think I'll ever stop making music, I just don't know whether anyone's going to listen to it.'
During the first of her four Hit Me Hard And Soft tour dates at Manchester's Co-op Live on Saturday, the singer said the performance would form the basis of their new project, which fans have assumed will be a state-of-the-art live film.
She told the crowd: 'I can't say much about it but I'm working on something very, very special with James Cameron and it's going to be in 3D.
'These four shows here in Manchester, you and me are part of a thing that I am making with him. He's in this audience somewhere, just saying.'
YOU couldn't blame
But the frontman, known for his wild nights out, has been enjoying high-brow evenings – at the theatre.
One of my mates spotted him in the audience at Sadler's Wells in London this week watching a ballet of Quadrophenia.
Somehow, I doubt Liam will be pulling on a tutu any time soon.
LEIGH-ANNE has hinted she almost packed in her solo career amid her split from Warner Records.
I told in May how the former Little Mix star had parted ways with the label and she's just released her new single Been A Minute as an independent artist.
She said in her newsletter: 'So much has changed this past year – new chapter, new energy, new team . . . There were moments I wasn't sure this would even happen . . . I had to back myself again.'
THE WEEK IN BIZNESS
TUESDAY
: Christina Aguilera and Cher are tipped to attend the gala night performance of the new musical remake of their movie Burlesque, at London's Savoy Theatre, starring breakout performer Jess Folley.
THURS
: Latitude Festival gets underway in Suffolk with Sting, Snow Patrol, Fatboy Slim, Alison Moyet, MIKA and Clean Bandit among acts on the line-up.
FRIDAY
: Adam Sandler digs out his golf clubs to star in Happy Gilmore 2, which will hit Netflix 29 years after he originally played the frustrated sportsman.
SATURDAY
: Coronation Street's Jack P Shepherd, better known on the cobbles as David Platt, ties the knot to his partner Hanni Treweek in a ceremony in Manchester.