First Dates recap: 'Maybe I’ll make you a rat skull necklace?'
First Dates recap: (L to R) John, Rebecca and Jack
First up (after Mateo has to run out and collect him, he missed the door) is Sean from Charleville, who is looking for someone tall who can act as big spoon in the leaba.
“How’s the date scene down in Cork,” Neil the barman asks conversationally.
“Obviously not well anyway if I am up in Dublin,” Sean drawls.
Ironically enough, he’s paired up with a fellow Cork man, Joe from Crosshaven. At six foot four, he’s got the tall bit down from Sean’s checklist anyhow. So far, so good.
“I am the dinner guest from hell,” Joe laments, “vegetarian and gluten free.”
Everything from Spike Island to “the gay walk” is covered on the date — which seems to run over as First Dates waitress Alice is forced to come over and give them the nudge, “We do need the table back...”
It’s yes from both to another date — and to a night out on the town after.
Next through the Gibson’s doors is John... with his Gibson. The 75-year-old from Slane says his appearance on First Dates is all down to his daughter who signed him up for it without his knowledge.
“I didn’t know anything about this till I got a call... I thought it was a scam.”
But, now that he’s here, he’s open to finding someone who “lights up a room.”
“Someone that Eric Clapton had in his arms when he said ‘you’re wonderful tonight’... you remember that song?”
Enter, 65-year-old Dubliner Bernie, who is in the happiest stage of her life and has “nothing to lose”.
The pair hit it off on the right note as Bernie is also music-mad and likes to bring her guitar along with her fine self wherever she goes.
“I think sometimes I get invited to barbeques and parties because of my guitar.”
Thankfully, John isn’t intimidated by meeting his match — in fact, he says what most of us really want in love is “someone like ourselves”.
By the end of the night, the two are truly enchanted by each other.
“[A] beautiful lady in every respect,” John gushes. “Genuine, sincere, life experience, grounded, sportsperson, musical... my goodness, where did you get her?”
Bernie, meanwhile, says John is a true gentleman and she felt they were like “old friends”.
“We were in tune,” she says.
Unsurprisingly, it’s a yes from both for a sophomore release.
Our next pairing is Fiona, 42, from Tallaght, and Philip, also 42, and also from Tallaght.
Bubbly Fiona has been warned by her mother not to let her “hyena laugh” out, but she says she’s just going to be herself tonight.
"If they don’t like me, they don’t like me,” she shrugs.
No-filter Philip is of a similar view.
“What you see is what you get,” he says “If she likes it, she likes it.”
Both have children with previous partners, and Philip says it was his daughter who made him put himself out there.
“My daughter would be saying ‘daddy, mammy has a boyfriend. Why don’t you have a girlfriend?’
“And I said ‘Baby, I can’t just walk into a shop and pick her off a shelf.”
But when his little girl said “daddy, I want to see you happy," he said it gave him that extra push to go out and find someone to “make memories with”.
The former army man comes across as a real gent on the night, bringing his date a rose and commenting on her “sparkling eyes”. When Fiona tries to wave away the compliment (“sparkly eyeshadow”) he doesn’t let her away with it. “No, inside."
But, despite all the compliments, Fiona says no to another date.
“You’re a really lovely guy,” she says, choosing to speak to him rather than the camera, “Honestly, it’s been my first date in years and I had the best date. You’re so much fun, you’re really handsome.”
“I just didn’t feel there was a romantic spark there.”
“I would have thought different,” Philip admits.
Rebecca from Laois is looking for someone who’s “not afraid to be themselves” and a bit “weird”.
Well, she definitely got what she asked for.
The 25-year-old jewellery maker is paired up with Jack, 25, from Leitrim who enjoys cleaning roadkill for his skull collection.
“I have some fox skulls, some badger skulls, I’ve done two stags,” he says, “I keep a bucket and gloves in the back of my car.”
To be fair to Jack, that all looks a lot worse in print, though there is a brief pause when he first admits this to his date.
There’s a moment where she looks like she’s about go “what?” but quickly changes it to “lovely...”
She’s a better woman than us when he starts talking about cleaning his rat skulls...
When it comes time to open up about her interests, she admits she spends a lot of money on crystals.
“I am skeptical when it comes to the power of crystals,” Jack starts. Another momentary pause from Rebecca.
“You can’t say it’s not a thing, but you can’t say it is a thing,” she says.
There’s a conversation about energy and crystals that ensues but honestly, we got a bit lost. All we know is at the end of the night, Rebecca gifts Jack a handmade crystal bracelet and he seems genuinely delighted despite any doubt about the “science” behind crystals.
“I feel bad I didn’t bring anything for you, maybe I’ll make you a rat skull necklace?” he offers.
It’s a yes from both parties to another rendezvous. Sure there’s someone out there for everyone as our mother says.
- First Dates Ireland airs Thursdays at 9:30pm on RTÉ 2
