SHAPARAK KHORSANDI DESCRIBES DATING APP EXPERIENCE

Comedian Shaparak Khorsandi has said she stopped using a dating app, prompting questions about her relationship with fellow comedian Mark Steel. In an Instagram video, Khorsandi described her experience of online dating. “I have come off the site because I really didn’t like who I was on it,” she wrote. She added: “I never thought I would hate someone for wanting ‘travel tips for Japan'”. Khorsandi did not directly say whether she and Steel had separated.

Khorsandi included the hashtags #midlifedating, #onlinedatingfail and #datingapps with her post. One follower asked: “I thought you were with Mark Steel?” Another asked whether she was already in a relationship. Khorsandi previously performed under the name Shappi. In February 2025, Steel described their relationship as going “great” after they had reunited following a period apart.

Steel received a throat cancer diagnosis in 2023. He has said his illness brought him and Khorsandi back together, telling an interviewer: “We were no good not being together.” Speaking in February 2025, he added: “It’s lovely. You can never say with these things, but… I think it’s permanent now.” Steel’s 2025 memoir, *The Leopard in My House: One Man’s Adventures in Cancerland*, recounts his cancer treatment and the couple’s reconciliation.