Sarah Beauvoisin: Appearing on Channel 4’s First Dates

I was on an episode of Channel 4’s First Dates over 3 years ago.

I didn’t plan to be on it. My friend persuaded me to apply and she said I had nothing to lose except have fun and enjoy the experience. So I thought why not and I passed on my contact details to her to give to the production team.

I received an email from the team about my dealbreakers, my likes, dislikes and who is my ideal man, etc. The next step was to meet the people from a dating agency in London.

They also asked me lots of questions about who my ideal man was, my interests and so on. They jotted all the information down and took a profile picture of me. In the end, they said, “Right, we will let you know once we have found your match.”

A couple of months later, I got a match, but no information was given. No name, no description, nothing about his age or where he comes from. I was completely left in the dark. I felt a bit nervous because it was my first ever blind date.

What if I couldn’t lipread him? What if he was too tall and my neck would become uncomfortable whilst lipreading him? Does he have an accent or a protruding teeth that I will have trouble lipreading him?

What if he has a massive beard that hides his lips – do I need to bring a scissors for an emergency? There were all sorts of thoughts running through my mind as I just didn’t know what to expect.

After finding something to wear, I wasn’t terribly confident at the time because I wanted to lose weight for the date, but I failed to do that. I thought, sod it! It is not my body he is interested in, it’s my personality.

I was both nervous and excited when I was getting ready for my date. I had to have Dutch courage by drinking a glass of brandy to settle my nerves. I got to the venue at St John’s by taxi and the production team fitted the radio mic inside my dress. The runner then took me out, and told me, ‘Go’. And I did, I went, towards the entrance of the restaurant where I saw Fred the Maître D.

Fred greeted me warmly and took my coat but sadly I was unable to lipread him because of his strong French accent and thin lips surrounded by his well groomed beard. I told him that I am deaf and asked him to speak clearly. I of course struggled, I felt more nervous and perhaps, in hindsight, anxious.

I got up on to the bar stool and ordered a drink from the lovely bartender Marlon (I think that is his name). I nearly fell off the stool, not because of the drink, but because it was a bit wobbly. I told Marlon that I am deaf so he was aware.

With each minute that passed by, I kept looking at the entrance of when my date is going to arrive. Then finally there was a tall, dark and handsome stranger and I thought, “Ooh I wonder if he is going to be my date?”. It was.

John spoke ever so clearly and I was pleasantly surprised. I thought what a great start! I wasn’t sure if I could tell him that I am deaf or not because I understood him so clearly, but then I thought I don’t want to have any communications difficulties later on when he is not aware of my deafness.

It would indeed make me feel perhaps more nervous. I am glad I told him, although as we walked to the table, I jokingly threatened that I would have punched him in the mouth if his lips were too thin. That way, when they swelled up, I would understand him better! His response was ‘thats a bit harsh’. Thankfully I didn’t have to punch him. Maybe next time I will refrain from using this type of icebreaker.

We were shown to our table and got chatting. I saw there were many semi-sphered cameras on the top walls all around the restaurant and around the pillar in the centre of it all. They looked like a white opaque mini domes.

During our starter, I offered John an oyster, he said he loves them but his body hates them. A few minutes later I stupidly offered him one and he stupidly took it! We thought nothing of it. As the time went on, we had a few laughs and a banter. Unfortunately a couple of times he mentioned, “We are on TV”.

I was a tad annoyed when he said it, because it was as if he was boasting about it and it made me feel a little uneasy. It felt like he was full of himself and I didn’t like it. The runner or an assistant director, I can’t remember which, asked him twice not to mention TV, oops he had been told!

Sadly, I didn’t fancy him. Thankfully he made me a laugh A LOT! I loved his laughter because when he laughed, his upper body shook. I like to see things visually, and really appreciated this in him. We enjoyed each other company and the dinner was delicious. Eventually John grew on me and we held hands. To be honest I cannot remember what we talked about as both of us were drunk! Ha ha.

We were the last couple to leave the restaurant and I didn’t realise the time!. He suggested that we could go to the champagne bar as the night was young. Unfortunately it was closed. So I suggested drinks at my hotel.

The runner was with us and booked us a taxi. We waited and John said, “I’ll be back in a few minutes as I need to go to the loo.” Off he went. Then the taxi arrived 5 minutes later, the runner gave the taxi their account number so they’d paid our fare. The runner went and I waited for 10 minutes in the taxi. John didn’t turn up. I felt disappointed and I thought Ive had enough with men and dating, it’s a complete waste of time and energy, I just simply cannot be bothered!

I was upset and cried my eyes out and had more brandy at the hotel bar and wanted to forget that I met John and took my drinks to my room.

On the next day I had a hangover and felt shattered and miffed. Of course it was a great night but not at the end. I didn’t know what to think of it. When I got on the train home, I received a text from the production team that John wanted to get in touch with me. I was surprised! Well apparently he was very apologetic that he got stuck on the toilet for 20 minutes because he had the runs due to his allergic reaction to oysters!!!! I felt bad about it but it is also his fault as well because he shouldn’t’ve taken the oyster when I offered in the first place!

We kept in touch and we got together for a couple of months. I thought maybe it was meant to be but I was wrong. John works six days a week and lives in London and I live in the Cotswolds. Actually I found out he didn’t apply to the programme, his colleagues did and he did not even watch our episode.

I thought, “Hmmm, does that mean he wasn’t really up for a relationship in the first place?”

But I absolutely loved being wooed by him because he gave me a bottle of a vintage Dom Perignon champagne and half a dozen of red roses before our dates. I love a man who is thoughtful and romantic.

Whilst it didn’t end in love for me, First Dates put me up in a great hotel and paid for all my travel expenses, including £25 cash towards your meal. I would go on First Dates again in a heartbeat. My search for Mr Right continues…..

 

Sarah is a part-time writing student on an online Adult Fiction Writing course. She is also an actress and model. Her hobbies are travelling, reading, writing and performing with Gloucestershire Free Creative. Between acting jobs she is a restaurant assistant at one of the best restaurants in Broadway in the Cotswolds.   And lastly she is a trained stand-up comic taught by the one-and-only Gareth Berliner who is a comedian, actor and writer.