Jono Read

First Dates: Series 7, Episode 8

On the latest episode of First Dates we welcome back Marie, who gripped the nation with her hilarious one-liners last month. Will luck be on her side tonight?

Marie and Adrian

38-year-old Marie from Swindon is back to much excitement from her adoring fans on social media.

This Welsh wonder, who is a teacher, did not have much luck with vegan Davin last month, but her wit did gain her lots of attention and even became the focus of news stories in the national media. This time though she was planning to talk less, and let the man doing more talking. She had a warning though – if he doesn’t turn up she was planning to go all UKIP MEP on him. “I’ll punch him!”

Admitting she is a bit of a cougar, she was anticipating this time that she would meet someone a bit younger. So 31-year-old Adrian from Swindon seemed just the teacher’s pet. Adrian didn’t mind an older lady, he thinks they’re more grounded than younger women.

After getting over the awkwardness of not knowing whether to kiss each other politely on the cheek, or go in for a hug, the two were soon finding common interests. Helpfully the production team had found Marie someone from the same town, so they hit the ground running talking about the wonders of Swindon. I’m told there are plenty of roundabouts. The fact he had turned up also meant Marie wasn’t going to need to swing her right hook either.

Sadly tonight Marie revealed how she had lost her brother at a young age, and pondered over whether the loss of her brother was the reason why she seemed to be “stuck in her 20s” and going after younger men. Adrian understood Marie’s grief, after serving in Iraq and going through the pain of losing best friends in the war.

Marie and Adrian bonded over the concept of big things that should be small, and small things that should be big. Before Adrian could even question whether this was innuendo or not, Marie had got her tiny saucepan out, explaining her love for model villages. She also was dreaming of going to Legoland, something Adrian offered as a second date.

First Dates Series 7 Episode 8 Marie Adrian

It certainly looked like Legoland was a dead cert after how the two got on in the restaurant. The mutual attraction was clearly there, and the two headed to another bar straight after their date before arranging another. I’m told Adrian is currently working on lighting on the new Game of Thrones series, but more dates are in the pipeline when he returns. A success at last for our Marie, she can finally bin the mug!

Stephanie and Stuart

After the success of a tennis player last week on First Dates, would it be second set lucky for the First Dates crew? Tennis playing 25-year-old Stephanie was refusing to go to her brother’s wedding without having a date. Her ideal partner is a “chatty” Andy Murray (possibly a contradiction there) but her specific demand is finding someone for the wedding in September.

Could 28-year-old rugby player, turned city boy, Stuart be the dream wedding date? Like many others who have walked through the doors of the restaurant, Stuart describes himself in a cliché way as being like marmite. You either love him or hate him. Stuart thinks he’s single purely because of himself. After his last breakup, he had struggled to come to terms with the single life. Fortunately, his love of One Direction had been guiding him through. Yes, really, he’s even named his dog after Harry Styles. This presumably means he will be a mover on the wedding party floor.

First Dates Series 7 Episode 8 Stuart Stephanie

The sporting rivalry was getting the better of the two singletons tonight. She was already challenging Stuart to a second date on the tennis courts half way through the date. The two played “two truths, one lie” which Stuart used as a chance to find out how she felt for him. They also were playing a game of trying to get the ice into the bin across the restaurant.

It transpired that Stuart had Scottish roots, and whenever he attended a wedding he wore a kilt. At that point her mind seemed made up, despite wavering when he started to mention Harry Styles and One Direction.

The night ended with high fives all around and a kiss. Between the two. Clearly the city boy charmer had worked his magic, and Stephanie had shown herself to be a fan of marmite and arranged for a second date. Sadly though she didn’t arrange to take him to the wedding, so the kilt remains stored away.

George and Janet

Former soldier George (Ted) has traveled the world with the army. The Luton man had even arrived for his date badged up with his British Legion badge. At 87 years old, his latest mission seemed a straight forward one. To find a girlfriend. Much like our older daters in the restaurant last week, George is a subscriber to the “eat, drink and be merry… for tomorrow we die” philosophy. He’s looking for a woman he can get very intimate with, you can guess what is meant by that.

79-year-old Janet from Burwash was his date. Also with fun in the bedroom department on the mind, Janet was looking for a man who was tall, and had plenty of hair on his head to enjoy in bed. From what I could understand from that comment, she just likes to stroke his hair, nothing more than that.

Unfortunately, Janet and George were having a few problems communicating. Despite having most of his teeth still, George was struggling with the hearing. He couldn’t hear where Janet was saying she was from, and also thought her favourite activity was scrabble, rather than to travel.

Despite the communication problems, the two had a lot to say about travel. George had worked in South America after being in the war. Janet had travelled the world with her most recent boyfriend. One of his last wishes when he placed an eternity ring on her finger was for Janet to go out and find the boyfriend she wanted to help her travel the world. That’s why she’s on the show tonight.

First Dates Series 7 Episode 8 Janet George

Both were suffering from loneliness. They didn’t want to have to rely on friends and family to keep them entertained, they both want a partner they can do things with.

As the evening came to an end we found out that George was very keen to see Janet again and even plan some holidays together, but Janet wants to formalise things first with a few chats on the telephone first. Let’s hope the two can hear each other better than in the noisy First Dates restaurant.

Anna and Chris

Next through those restaurant doors was 37-year-old northern DJ and party animal Anna, who runs cabaret events around North London. Unfortunately for Anna, while she’s a success on the dancefloor, she’s usually left dancing on her own. Anna can’t remember the last time she went on a date, so her visit to the First Dates restaurant is going to be significant. She had even given up work for the evening.

Anna’s looking for someone who isn’t a bastard. A common wish from most girls, right? So will 31-year-old “big daddy” Chris from Essex reignite a spark in Anna’s life?  He’s looking to buck the trend where nice guys finish last. Given that Anna had unfortunately had a bad experience with men previously, perhaps he was just the match for her. Chris certainly ticked the box for niceness, but it seems you really can be just too nice.

First Dates Series 7 Episode 8 Anna Chris

Poor Chris seemed to stick his foot in it from the start. Bringing up exes is usually a big ‘no no’ for most first dates, but on this show they tend to get away with it. For Anna this was an uncomfortable area to take the conversation, so things quickly moved away from this. However things soon got serious again, and Chris moved the conversation on to children. Clearly he hadn’t learned his lesson! As he suggests, there was clearly a barrier there, but the seriousness may have been an error of judgement with someone who was just returning to the dating game.

Despite the lack of spark, nice guy Chris was still more than happy to pay for the whole evening, and even held the taxi door open for Anna. Anna was, nonetheless, thankful for the opportunity to get back into the dating game.

Michael and David

27-year-old London vet Michael broke many hearts before his date on First Dates had even started. The looker had the waitresses, and girls on Twitter, swooning before it transpired his date was another man. Despite being a looker, Michael wasn’t lucky in love, which is why he’s on the show tonight.

While people seem to like his job of being a vet, most people find it cute rather than sexy. Will he find someone who sees him more for the George Clooney in him rather than Dr Doolittle? Perhaps part of the problem is that his home is often shared with a variety of animals, which include chickens, tortoises and snakes. Is there any room for anyone else?

Michael’s date tonight is 30-year-old doctor David. Just like Michael, David was subject to lots of fans on Twitter. If things don’t work out there will certainly be plenty of eligible candidates for future dates.

Before the two hadn’t even been sat down the two were bonding over medical research, and their history of academia and studying. The trouble was, this topic conversation continued beyond the drinks arriving, and Michael was struggling to veer off the subject. Michael enlisted waitress Cici’s help to try and get his date more drunk to lighten him up.

As the academia discussion continued, Michael managed to swing the conversation to coming out to his family. Tragically Michael still vividly remembers his parents’ disappointed reaction when he told his family he was gay, and it is something they had struggled to come to terms with since.

First Dates Series 7 Episode 8 Michael David

Despite David being a psychiatrist (I’m not sure if he got that message across tonight?) he couldn’t work out whether Michael fancied him or not. He had no reason to worry though, the feeling of attraction was shared between them both, and it transpires the pair didn’t just go on another date but seven more. That’s right – seven! Hurrah!

Next time on First Dates

Eighteen-year-old trainee beautician Ruby’s back again with her endearing witticisms. Will she bag herself a date this time? Watch First Dates back on Channel 4 at 10pm next Monday. There’s also a special Celebrity First Dates for Stand Up To Cancer on Thursday evening.

Watch more First Dates on catch-up on All4, and read more reviews of this series of First Dates on my blog.

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