MasterChef’s Dani Dyer – ‘I named Star after the vampire in Lost Boys’

They may have twin babies and a toddler at home, but that doesn’t mean romance is off the menu for Dani Dyer and her footballer beau Jarrod Bowen. In fact, the arrival of their two-month-old twins has stoked the passion between the actress and West Ham star Jarrod, and exuberant Dani is feeling like a teenager again.

“Jarrod’s amazing, he’s just great,” gushes Dani, who is thrilled their twins Star and Summer were born at the end of the football season, allowing Jarrod to spend more time at home with his baby girls. We’ve spent so much time together as a family. They couldn’t have come at a better time.”

And Dani doesn’t mind admitting it makes her heart leap seeing Jarrod tenderly care for their children. “He’s become a lot sexier now,” she laughs. “I think they do – you love them even more, don’t you? He’s been great. I feel like I’m 16 again, it’s ridiculous!” Night feeds for newborns means broken sleep, and twins are double trouble, but Dani is making the most of the extra cuddles because she knows how quickly babies grow up.

“It’s not been too bad,” smiles Dani, who puts her boundless energy down to coffee and cuddles. “I love and adore my sleep, but my little boy now is two and a half and he’s a dream sleeper. Lie-ins become a distant memory, but it’s all good.”

Star and Summer join big brother Santiago, or Santi for short, who turns three in January. Jarrod and Dani settled very quickly on the names for their twins, with Dani choosing Star and Jarrod choosing Summer.

“It was the easiest decision ever,” grins Dani. “I always loved the name Star from the film The Lost Boys when I was young. The vampire was called Star and she was gorgeous. That was always the name I wanted. Jarrod always had the name Summer, so decision made!”

Dani fell in love with being a mum when she had Santi with her ex Sammy Kimmence, but she never expected she’d one day have twins.

“It’s still so funny that I’ve had twins, but I love them,” she says. “They are adorable and they’re so different already.”

The babies shared a placenta, which means they’re identical, but Dani can easily tell them apart.

“In my eyes they don’t look anything alike,” she explains. “Summer has always been bigger than Star. They are identical, but identical twins
don’t always look alike – one might be taller than the other.”

As well as being doted on by their mum, dad and big brother, the twins have their grandfather, former EastEnders actor Danny Dyer, resolutely on their team, even though he’s had the busiest year of his career since he left Walford at Christmas.

“He loves them. He adores them,” grins Dani. “He was meant to have this year off after leaving EastEnders, but he’s been the busiest he’s ever been, bless him. He’s in a really good place.”

A strong work ethic must run in the Dyer family, as Dani worked throughout her pregnancy, filming her acclaimed documentary Dani Dyer: Is This Anxiety? for E4 and promoting an Italian travelogue with her dad called Absolutely Dyer that saw the pair journey around Italy.

On top of that, Dani took part in Celebrity MasterChef, cooking up dishes like chicken curry and pavlova for John Torode and Gregg Wallace. The series kicks off next Wednesday and sees Dani dashing around with a baby bump.

“I was about six months pregnant,” she says. “My first trimester I wouldn’t have been able to do anything, but my second trimester I felt OK. I just thought, ‘Why not?’ It was something I really wanted to do.”

The timing might not have been perfect, but Dani decided to seize the day. “I was like, ‘I’m pregnant, but I can do it,’” she reveals.

Being part of the cookery competition was every bit as tough as it looks.

“It’s such a whirlwind of emotions, but it was incredible,” Dani says. “It is as terrifying as it looks on TV, but John and Gregg are so lovely and warm and they really relax you, so it makes it a lot easier. When I look back I’m like, ‘I can’t believe I did it’, but it was so much fun. I would do it again.”

On her first day Dani was so nervous she even forgot her name when she met hosts Gregg and John.

“My heart was completely out of my chest,” she reveals. “Every time I was talking, I felt like I needed to take a moment. I forgot everything, I forgot my name. It was so scary.”

Filming has been completed, with the identity of the winner a closely guarded secret, but in a few months’ time Dani will be cooking for two more discerning critics – Summer and Star.

“I loved weaning my little boy, so I’m really looking forward to doing it with the girls,” she says.

Right now Dani is enjoying being a full-time mum, but she is looking forward to returning to work towards the end of the year. After receiving positive feedback for Dani Dyer: Is This Anxiety? she would love to do more presenting, and there are plans for a second series of Absolutely Dyer.

However, Dani and Danny will not be heading back to the continent this time. “We’ll probably do it in the UK,” says Dani. “There’s so much to explore in the UK but we loved it and we get on so well. It made it easy because we had each other.”

One project that everyone is excited for Dani to pull off is a Dyer-Bowen wedding – so is it on the cards? “There are a lot of rumours we’re getting married,” Dani says. “But we’re just enjoying our babies at the minute. We’ll see what happens in the future.”

Celebrity MasterChef starts Wednesday 2 August, 9pm, BBC One and iPlayer