Star host Darren McMullen details heartache behind crisp TV smile: ‘It is just devastating’

As he watched love blossom in his role as host of Australia’s newest dating show — The Real Love Boat — Darren McMullen’s own relationship had run aground.

Behind the perfect TV smile, Darren McMullen battled much turmoil while shooting reality series, The Real Love Boat.

And so it wasn’t easy watching on as contestants enjoyed the fun and frivolity of searching for love on the high seas.

Behind the scenes, McMullen was dealing with the loss of his pooch of 13 years, Mac, and the breakdown of his relationship with long-time partner, Milly.

“It is all very fresh,” McMullen told Confidential.

“It was tough doing the show because as I was watching love blossom and all these people go through the sparks of finding a new connection, I was going through a massive heartbreak of my own. I lost my dog while I was filming and being stuck at sea, I felt like I was grieving the loss of my partner, and then the loss of my dog.”

Darren McMullen is the host of new reality show, The Real Love Boat, Australia. Picture: David Swift

McMullen, 40, found out his beloved golden retriever had melanoma in his mouth while shooting another reality show as a contestant on Celebrity Apprentice last year.

He believed Mac was in remission after undergoing treatment when he set out to shoot The Real Love Boat, which premieres on Channel 10 Wednesday at 7.30pm.

Hannah Ferrier, Daniel Doody, Captain Paolo Arrigo and Darren McMullen for The Real Love Boat.

“It looked like a full recovery, and there was only a 30 per cent chance, so we were over the moon,” McMullen explained. “A few months later, I was on the ship and Mac was with my parents in QLD and he broke his leg. The doctor did a scan and found his bones were riddled with cancer and it also was in his heart. He was in so much pain and, with bad reception, by the time I got through to my dad he had passed.”

McMullen and Milly meanwhile were close friends for many years before dating.

“We were best friends for 15 years and then we had a romantic relationship,” he said. “I love her to bits and probably through the mistakes I made within the relationship, it broke down and it is just devastating. And so it was tough to be hosting a dating show while going through heartbreak myself and trying to pull myself together.”

The Real Love Boat is a new format to Aussie television, based on the hit American TV drama, The Love Boat, that originally aired in the late 1970s and 1980s.

Think Love Island meets Below Deck with the series profiling a bunch of sexy singles looking for their perfect match. It was shot on board the Regal Princess cruise ship earlier this year as it sailed the Mediterranean.