Jamie O'Hara and Ryan Babel among footballers going undercover on new reality dating show

Ex-Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Jamie O'Hara, former Liverpool forward Ryan Babel and Charlton Athletic defender Lloyd Jones are among the famous footballers who are going undercover in a bid to find love.

O’Hara, aged 37, Babel, also age 37, and Jones, 28, have travelled to Los Angeles to take part in a new reality dating show in the hopes of finding their perfect match - but they have gone on dates with secret identities. The show is called ‘Love Undercover’ so, as the name suggests, O’Hara, Babel and Lloyd aren’t able to tell their matches that they are successful footballers. Instead, they pretend to be average members of society and claim to work in fields such as construction and advertising, to see if they can still woo women who don’t know about their fame.

The show will feature five football players from around the world, with two other Mexican football stars taking part; 34-year-old Marco Fabián, who is a midfielder, and goalkeeper Sebastián Fassi, 30.

Ahead of the show launching in the UK, Babel said that he was keen to discover if potential dates liked the real him. He told ’The Athletic’: "There was an opportunity to actually see if you could make genuine connections with your status, title and achievements stripped away. I’m curious as to how it will be received.

“I was very self-aware and very conscious to make sure that I didn’t necessarily make a fool out of myself. But at the same time, I think I played my part."

There is a trailer for ‘Love Undercover’. You can watch it below.

The American synopsis for the show reads: "Love Undercover is a modern-day fairytale meets buddy comedy about an elite group of international soccer stars who come to the United States on a secret quest for true love.

We'll follow them on an epic journey filled with drama, heartbreak and self-discovery. Can they win over the ladies without their fame and fortune? Will they manage to keep their true identities a secret? And will any of them fall for an American princess before inviting them back to their home countries and testing their relationships on the global stage? For these men, finding love is the number one goal."

Of course, at some point the men will have to come clean about who they really are with their love matches - so the question to answer then will be ‘does love really conquer all?’.

‘Love Undercover’ will air next week. The first three episodes will premire on Peacock on Thursday May 9. The show will then continue to release three episodes per week for the following two weeks.