BBC presenter banned from dating app over 'catfishing' complaints: 'It wasn't what you think it was'
A BBC presenter was banned from dating app Hinge 'twice in eight hours" after 300 women reported his profile thinking they were being 'catfished'.
Gethin Jones, 46, spoke about the experience on the podcast Restless Natives, telling hosts Martin Compston and Gordon Smart he was "kicked off" the popular dating app after being accused of violating its code of conduct.
Jones, Compston and Smart were discussing the "weird places" their demanding work schedules have taken them during long stints on the road for filming.
Watch the video above.
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BBC presenter Gethin Jones was banned from dating app Hinge. Getty Images for The National Lo
"I think mine was, a couple of weeks ago, being kicked off Hinge twice in eight hours for violating the code of conduct," he shared.
"It wasn't what you think it was. It was 300 women had reported me for catfishing, which when you're on Morning Live, you should know better. I should have verified my account.
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"The moment when I have to write to Hinge ... on a Thursday night, on your own, writing to an online dating app. 'Hi, it's Gethin here, 46. I just want to get my money back, it's not really working for me'."
Three hundred women reported Jones' profile, thinking they were being 'catfished'. BBC1
'Catfishing' is a practice that involves someone impersonating another person, made famous by the TV series Catfish, which saw its hosts investigate the real identities of people's online love interests.
Jones said he was "eating cereal" at the time, and the moment left him wondering "what am I doing with my life".
It was suggested he join the celebrity dating platform Raya instead.
Jones was previously linked to Welsh singer Katherine Jenkins.
The pair had reportedly met when Jenkins performed Time to Say Goodbye alongside Italian opera singer Andrea Bocelli on an episode of Strictly Come Dancing in 2007 on which Jones was a contestant.
Jenkins's spokesman told South Wales Echo at the time: "They're old friends and they've been on several dates. But people shouldn't consider buying hats just yet."
Jones and ex-fiancee Katherine Jenkins at Wimbledon in 2011. Getty
The pair announced their engagement in 2011, however split later that year.
Jones said dreamed of being a fireman working in rugby before becoming a TV presenter.
"I had no plans of being on TV, I thought it was this weird magical box in the corner of the room and it was just like a different world that I would never live in," he said.
It was while working on a hotline for at local TV station S4C "taking complaints" that the thought first entered his mind.
He was approached to host a on a TV show Popty when he was 24, in Welsh.
"Steve Jones was doing the English version upstairs called The Pop Factory, and everyone things we're the same person," he said.
The pair had reportedly met on the set of Strictly Come Dancing in 2007. BBC1
Even now, he says he is confused with Steve Jones.
He joined BBC in 2005 on the children's program Blue Peter before moving to BBC1 in 2020.
Jones currently presents daily TV show Morning Live on BBC1 and has appeared on several reality TV and radio show.
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