‘Love Undercover’ Cast on Keeping Stardom a Secret: ‘Absolute Disaster’
What happens when you can’t mention a word about being a soccer star to a prospective girlfriend? The goal of Peacock‘s Love Undercover is to answer that question. The dating series follows five soccer athletes who come to the United States to find true love. However, they can’t tell the contestants that they’re famous. Keeping this a secret was easier said than done for Premier League stars Jamie O’Hara, Ryan Babel, Lloyd Jones, Marco Fabián, and Sebastián Fassi.
“It was an absolute disaster for me,” Jamie tells TV Insider. “I hated not being able to tell them that I was a Premier League football player, that I was famous in England, and I had some sort of status because I could use that to my advantage. That was always my advantage. I’m up against a Ryan Babel. I’m up against Sebastian, Lloyd Jones, who’s six foot two and built like a god. And I sat there 100 kilos with my ex-footballer belly, trying to take on these guys who are all unbelievably good-looking. We’ve got these unbelievably good-looking girls walking in, and I can’t even tell him I’m a footballer. I’ve got nothing to give. So, for me, it was a nightmare.”
Lloyd admits he felt “guilty” at times over keeping such a massive secret, mostly because “there were some moments when some of the girls may have doubted if we had financial sustainability. I don’t know soccer. I kind of liked it in some way, but then there was part of me, especially when I got to like some of these girls, that I wasn’t being completely honest with them. So it was definitely a challenge.”
Sebastián says he had “mixed feelings” about lying to the women and omitting such a crucial aspect of his life. However, he knew it was the “purpose of the show.” As the show will reveal, if one of the soccer players finds a girl he wants to bring home, they can reveal their secret. Sebastián’s uncertainty “went away once you knew that, in the end, we were actually going to tell the right woman who we were and we weren’t hiding something bad or something that could make this girl change her mind about you. I considered it to be a nice surprise because you actually got to know the real person and not the superstar. It was hard at some points, but in the end, I think it really paid off.”
More than anything, Marco reveals that having to pretend he had a totally different career (which all the guys had to do) proved the most difficult. “You cannot say anything about soccer,” he says. “Can’t say nothing about who you are. For me, I had to start talking about about food because I’m a general manager. I know nothing about food.”
Throughout the season, premiering May 9, there will be plenty of drama as these athletic hunks go on a journey filled with love, heartbreak, and self-discovery. Most of the guys are proud they took a risk with Love Undercover.
“It was just something so different than I’ve ever done in my life,” Lloyd admits. “I wish I could have done a few things better on the show. But apart from that, no regrets. I’m happy how it turned out.”
Sebastián adds, “I don’t regret anything. I’m just super happy the way things turned. It was life-changing. I can say that you’re going to love to see how this story goes. I’m really, really happy the way things turn out.”
Like Lloyd and Sebastián, Jamie is grateful that he went on this journey, but he does wish he could redo the experience. As for Ryan, he’s “in the middle” about whether or not he has any regrets. We’ll just have to tune in to see why he feels that way.
Love Undercover, Series Premiere, May 9, Peacock
