First Dates: Series 8 – Episode 4

What’s the best way to deal with dating with a foot fetish? Announcing it on a first date, in a busy restaurant, on national television it would seem. Read on for all of the gossip from the latest First Dates episode, where one guest declared his “thing for feet” in front of fellow diners.

Eve and Jordan

First through the doors tonight was Eve Betts, a beauty therapist who visits the restaurant from Bridgend. Eve was looking for someone with tattoos, and someone who can carry her home after a night out.

Eve was matched up with the very charming Welsh teaching assistant Jordan. Without being too stereotypical to the Welsh, he’s also a big fan of Tom Jones, and loves singing his hits at karaoke. Presumably tonight Jordan is looking for a bit of a sex bomb tonight.

In what I can only assume was one of the more scripted lines of the series, Jordan explains that he doesn’t have a type and that the woman of his dreams may as well be bald. Cue Eve removing her wig at the start of the date to reveal she has alopecia, and currently has no hair. Still, scripted or not, Jordan’s reaction is touching. He has absolutely no problem with it, encouraging her to keep it off. It certainly put a smile on Eve’s face.

Eve removes her wigEve removes her wig

Jordan, much like Toby the guy everyone swooned over last week, is a rugby lad but doesn’t play it anymore since an injury prevented him from playing. Toby’s injury and inability to play the game he loves, he revealed, had led him to turning to alcohol and feeling very depressed.

Although the pair weren’t quite seeing eye to eye by the time it came to decide on a second date it was welcoming to see normal people on television talking about mental health, and also conditions like alopecia. Particularly in World Mental Health Week.

Jeni and Eric

Jeni and Eric

Now for a treat – two pensioners who love to live life to the full. First up 80-year-old Jeni who loves to go down the front at ‘rock’ festivals. Except her idea of ‘rock’ is a mix of Coldplay, Ed Sheeran and Snow Patrol (“I don’t really know what’s happened to them” – me neither). I can only assume she won’t be heading to Download any time soon.

Jeni’s date tonight was 85-year-old Eric, another music lover, and a big fan of dancing the tango. As many on Twitter pointed out, there was something very familiar about Eric, he seemed to resemble Carl in the film ‘Up’.

Eric and Up's Carl
Eric and Up's Carl
Eric was so excited by his visit to the restaurant he was already dancing the moment he walked through the door.

Like most of our elderly diners in the First Dates restaurant they can’t resist a bit of innuendo and pushing the boundaries. “There’s other things that you can do!” he proclaimed before apologising. “Sorry, I’m being a bit rude there!”. It’s safe to say he wasn’t talking about his dancing.

Nonetheless, for now it’s only dancing on Eric’s mind, but Jeni is a little uneasy with it. You see, when she started dancing lessons her niece couldn’t take it, or that’s what Eric thought she said. She actually said knees, leading to some very confused looks. At least they had the singing to fall back on.

During the evening Eric and Jenny talked about their background and their previous partners. Both of them are widowed because their partners had cancer. Eric talked very fondly of the dancing memories he had with his wife. They seemed to enjoy themselves (bar the cheese fondue) and promised to add each other to Facebook that night.

It was reassuring to learn by the end of the programme Eric and Jenny were so into each other they had not only enjoyed a second date but were planning a third together.

Ronnie and Karly

Ronnie and Karly
While Eric and Jenny left us hooked on the idea of true romance, Ronnie and Carly grounded us once more.

Upper-class and privileged 32-year-old Ronnie uses yoga and meditation to help him calm his nerves when it comes to girls. He has some very blunt philosophical musings which probably stemmed from his architect days. “We’re all going to die in the end” he rather cheerfully tells us. Ronnie originates from Scotland but has ended up living on the mean streets of London.

Ronnie seems rather awkward and a little naive, but he does come across as endearing.

His date forensic scientist 27-year-old Karly was perhaps not the most perfect match. She might have enjoyed yoga, but it felt like that’s where the similarities ended. She’s recently become a vegetarian, to which Ronnie announced “I help cull deer! I’m a blood-on-the-hands-killer!”. Karly looked stunned. If that wasn’t awkward enough for this pair Karly then starts doing impressions of her South African ex-boyfriend. “Definitely don’t shit where you sleep. Or work. Or eat” she tells Ronnie, who clearly is too posh to understand any of this.

Ronnie tries to divert attention to some of the interests he loves the most. Out of the blue he asks “do you follow Eurovision?” before finding it was a non-starter. What about Now 95, is she a fan? No this isn’t going anywhere. Ronnie detracts to talking about sleep before talking about dreams and how confused he gets between sleep and reality.

Rather than being completely unimpressed by Ronnie, Karly was more concerned about the fact Ronnie was meeting a “really wanky version” of herself. Perhaps the two weren’t as poorly matched as I first thought.

Jade and Adam

Jade and Adam

Something for the ‘lads’ now as 32-year-old lingerie model Jade Ainsworth turns up in the First Dates restaurant, getting tongues with her skintight jumpsuit. Jade has the looks and the brains – she’s also a trained accountant. She declares “all my friends call me Carol Vorderman.”

Jade is in the restaurant because her daughter reminded that eventually she’s going to need a man in her life because at her dog won’t be around forever to spoon. But she’s got a few requests… a 22 point plan in fact. Someone who isn’t a midget, no tattoos, someone who can drive, and mostly importantly she wants someone with a low sex drive. “Not all men cheat, but I feel like there’s less chance if they’ve got a low sex drive”. It’s not clear whether Adam ticks the box on that front, it certainly didn’t seem to ask that on the application form when I last looked.

Adam, who is also 32, soon hit it off when they realised they were the same age. Although Jade looked considerably younger than Adam, something she puts down to the botox. The pair hit it off talking about Rome – something Jade seemed particularly enthusiastic to talk about. “I just wanted to stay in the room. Everyone wanted to look at the big columns, when you can just stay in and see on the internet what you can see in front of you”. This does sound like my kind of holiday, where do I sign up?

Despite Jade’s best efforts she wasn’t feeling a spark with her date, but the pair did enjoy drinks with another couple after the show.

Jonathan and Krystle

Jonathan - the foot fetishist - and Krystle

Music producer Jonathan, who’s 26, is looking for a wife. His date, HR officer Krystle, also wants to walk down the aisle and is bored of men who can’t commit. Krystle clearly had some problems with confidence, and her inability to flirt. However it seemed like First Dates was doing the hard work for her. The minute the pair set eyes on each other it was clear there was a spark between the two. The pair didn’t seem to actually have to say much, they appeared smitten with each other. That was until, at least, Jonathan mentioned he has a “foot thing”.

I don’t know about you but announcing your foot fetish doesn’t sound like something you’d a) announce on your first date, b) in a very busy restaurant, or c) on national television. Still fair play to him, that’s presumably all of the difficult secrets out of the way.

Krystle didn’t seem fazed and was quickly moving the conversation on to a romantic trip to Paris… presumably while booking herself a pedicure at the same time.

By the end of the programme not only had Jonathan and Krystle and agreed to a second date, but they’d enjoyed it in Paris and were still together three months later. I can only assume it was the toes that sealed the deal.

First Dates Returns

First Dates is back next Tuesday evening from 10.00pm. In the meantime 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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