Vanessa Feltz takes a swipe at her cheating ex Ben Ofoedu before flirting up a storm with handsome men at the first Celebs Go Dating mixer

Vanessa Feltz took a swipe at her cheating ex Ben Ofoedu when she appeared on the first episode of the new Celebs Go Dating series on Sunday night.

The broadcaster, 61, has joined the line-up in a bid to find love again after splitting from her longtime fiancé Ben, 51, in January.

The pair called it quits amid claims he had been unfaithful and exchanged “sex texts” with another woman, which he later confirmed.

When introduced to the dating show, Vanessa briefly talked about her relationship history after being with Ben for 16 years as she criticized his infidelity.

She said in her pre-mixer intro, “Once trust in a relationship is thoroughly destroyed, you really can’t get it back, even if you try, and I tried.”

Vanessa added about her relationship status, “I’ve never wanted a single life and I don’t like being single, I’m afraid of being single.

‘I want to invest in someone. I want to invest my completely broken heart in someone.”

During the first episode, Vanessa attended a mixer with the other celebs and was seen talking and flirting with a large number of men.

It comes after Vanessa admitted last week that she’s a “rotten picker” of men when she revealed she’s been on 13 dates following her split from Ben on the show.

The star confessed that the process was “damn hard.”

Speaking to Josie Gibson and Andi Peters on This Morning, Vanessa said that when a date doesn’t go well, it’s like “wading through treacle,” and she kept tight-lipped about whether she’s kept in touch with one of her male suitors.

Speaking about her time on the show, Vanessa said, “I think dating is hard. I haven’t done it in 17 years. I wouldn’t sit here and pretend it’s a breeze and a blast.

“When things don’t go right, it’s like wading through tear gas. But when you meet someone it can be easy, it can be bliss.

‘It can be great. It’s just a numbers game, isn’t it… I’ve been a rotton picker, I haven’t been good at picking. I thought the cops must be able to do better than me, they can’t do any worse.’

Grilled about whether she’s tested dating photos, she added, “I’ve never done it. I’ve never swiped left and right before. I don’t have the apps. I hope someone introduces me to someone nice at some point.”

Vanessa admitted she had only watched one episode of the show before signing on, and laughed off the prospect of a romance with one of her Celebs Go Dating co-stars.

She added: ‘Am I not old enough to be their mother or grandmother – I was doing the math. I really thought gee, I’m a bit more vintage and antique than she is.’

Vanessa revealed that she went on 13 dates while appearing on the show, saying, “I think when you like someone you completely forget there are cameras.

“There was a moment when I yelled, ‘Have we got enough in the can yet? My date looked terrified. The producers said I was hard on parts.’

The TalkTV star went on to admit that going on dates was akin to interviewing someone, adding, “I thought if I was going to interview someone, ‘it wouldn’t be you sunshine, not you honey’.” You should be so lucky to be interviewed by me.

“I was so nervous and my heart was pounding. Now I’ve done 13 dates, you get used to it.”

“I thought I was ravishing, charming, showing just the right cleavage, not too much,

“I had anecdotes and listened to them, even though most of them didn’t have much to say. I thought I was flawless. But the people they lined me up with weren’t worth my charms.”

Struggling with the heartbreak, the star revealed that the breakup caused her to lose her appetite and she estimates she lost about two stone.

Vanessa is now filming for the E4 celebrity dating show and has revealed that she is still looking for love.

“Of course I want him to have the looks of Omar Sharif, the poetic phraseology of WB Yeats and the humor of Billy Crystal, and I’d like some chemistry and magic,” she revealed to Weekend Magazine.

“People say, ‘Oh, when you’re that old, all you really want is a companion.’ Absolutely tosh. When you get to this age, you want exactly what you wanted when you were 14.

“You want to fall in love and be thrown off your feet. You want to feel all the flutter in all the different parts of your anatomy because they still flutter away when they get the right signals. You want some flutter.’

Other cast members of Celebs Go Dating include Love Island stars Adam Collard, 27, and Chloe Burrows, 27, Made In Chelsea’s Mark-Francis Vandelli, 33, OnlyFans model Lottie Moss, 25, and comedian and internet personality Spuddz, who appears in are in their late 20s.

The cast gathered last Tuesday night to celebrate the press launch as they celebrated the series and danced the night away.

Vanessa reviewed her dates to date and revealed that the first one was unfortunately a big bust.

‘The first one I met for coffee was a really nice guy. Polite, smelled good, looked good, but there was a distinct lack of spark between us,” she said. ‘No chemistry at all.

“I really tried my best to be bubbly, hilarious, full of absolutely witty banter, and immensely engaging.

“I tried to make the man laugh, but unfortunately he was an invariably serious person with a very Eeyor-like facial expression who really looked at the doom-laden side of life.”