With all these dating apps, it doesn't seem real.
It's almost like a card game.
It's like you're just collecting people.
I've just been swiping and nothing.
There's just nothing.
In the heart of Britain's most romantic city...
Ooh-la-la!
..Fred and his team... CHAMPAGNE POPS
..are matching hopeful singletons
in a place where love is always on the menu.
Squirting everywhere.
Mine always get stuck on my boob shelf.
These daters...
How old are you?
Old enough for you. SHE LAUGHS
..are searching for the one...
Oh, my God!
..in the real world.
# O sole mio! #
Oh, I grazed my knee this morning...
..falling for you.Oh, my God! HE LAUGHS
For some, stepping into the unknown...
How are you with your technology?
Rubbish. I'm a dinosaur.
Oh! Thank goodness.
If I want to get in contact with you, I have to WhatsApp you.
Don't get too ahead of yourself.
..can lead to surprising sparks.
Are you blushing? I don't know what's going on.
But finding a connection...
What's the dynamic here?
..isn't always easy.
How big is yours?
My husband is at the bar.
Would you like to meet him?
GASPS, GLASS SHATTERS Oh, shoot!
Help me!
In the end... Eh, eh, mate!
..it comes down to one...
Hello. Hello.
..big... This isn't awkward.
..question.
Do you guys want to see each other again?
SHE CHUCKLES
This is The First Dates Restaurant.
That is funky. Wow-wee! He's come to find love, hasn't he?
Very good. What an entrance.
You never know who's going to come through that door.
Hi.
Confident. Yes.
I like that.
It's not just about how people look.
Oh, my God. HE LAUGHS
You've got to have that confidence within yourself.
What do you think? Are you happy with what you see?
I'm not even fussed, don't worry.
I honestly don't care.
Beautiful.
Meet Leah,
a recruitment manager who's hoping that when it comes
to love, the only way is up.
It has been a stereotype.
Essex girls dancing around in white shoes
and their white handbag.
But not a lot of Essex girls are like that.
I've had my own businesses, run restaurants.
Thank you.
I hold my own.
So don't judge a book by its cover.
I'm very independent.
I don't need anybody.
I want somebody.
NERVOUS CHUCKLE How are you?
I'm good. How are you?
You look so glamorous. Thank you.
What's been happening?
I'm getting older. I want to meet the one that
I can introduce my children to.
Right. So I'm taking it nice and slowly.
What a brilliant place to be. Yes.
Come with me. Thank you.
Here, take a seat here. Leah.
Lovely. Thank you, Fred. Hiya.
Hi, Merlin. How are you? I'm very good. How are you?
Good, thank you.
Tell me about yourself, then. What are you like?
I've been brought up in a really old-fashioned family.
My parents were together when they was 14,
and I still believe in really old-fashioned love.
And you've yet to find it. And I'm yet to find it.
So we need to find you a nice guy. Absolutely.
But I fall in love with personality.
Kind, confident, gentleman. Old-fashioned chivalry.
It's a dying breed to find a man with those qualities now.
Is it Leah? Yes. Oh, hi, I'm Aoife. Nice to meet you.
I am part of the Wright family.
We've appeared on The Only Way as Essex.
Do the family know you were here?
My mum knows I'm here. Yeah? OK, love.
She said to me, it would be so good if this works out.
Yeah. Really, really wants it to happen.
Of course. We all do. LEAH CHUCKLES
Look-wise, I don't have a type, but I do have a height thing.
Oh, what have I done?
I don't like a metrosexual.
Has to be a bloke's bloke.
Like, a guy who... "Shit, shower and shave, let's go."
SHE LAUGHS
Hiya. You all right? I'm good.
This is ex-bouncer Adam,
who's ready to open the door to love.
I'm a complete contradiction.
I used to work as a doorman.
I'd be the one who went in and sorted the trouble.
But then at the same time,
I could be baking my daughter's birthday cake the next day.
Are you a hopeless romantic?
Yeah, I do love a bit of romance.
Some of my favourite films are like proper love stories,
like City of Angels with Nicolas Cage.
Nice to meet you. And you. You all right? Tell you one thing,
I wouldn't have liked to meet you at Agincourt. THEY LAUGH
It would have been bad news for me.
Oh, my god he's huge.
I like a woman who looks after herself.
With pretty eyes and a nice smile.
Have you been doing much dating?
No, not really.
I spend a lot of time with my kids and stuff like that.
Your date is at the bar. OK.
Can you see past my shoulder? Yeah, yeah.
Oh, my God. Would you like to meet her?
Yeah, go on. There you go. Let's go over.
Thank you very much. Enjoy.
Hello. Hi, you all right?
I'm Leah. Nice to meet you. I'm Adam.
Adam, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. You OK?
You well? Yes, I'm well.
I'm from Essex. All right.
Where yous from?Runcorn. SHE LAUGHS
That's a bit far apart. That is a bit. Yeah, Jesus.
Four hours, like. Oh, God!
What are you drinking? I'm drinking an old-fashioned margarita.
Oh, are you? Yes. Right, OK.
Very, very strong. Yeah.
A bit like yourself. THEY LAUGH
What can we get you? Can I have a French martini?
Yeah, you can. Thank you.
You look lovely. Thank you.
Yeah.
When you're on a date, you're trying to work out if someone
actually feels the same way as you do about them.
How do you read the signals?
Well, it's also about confidence.
You've got to go for it. Let's say I fancy you.
I want to make sure that you know.
I don't have that problem. I've never had that problem.
You want to know what's going on and what I'm thinking, right?
Yes, yeah. HE LAUGHS
# Everybody's doing a brand-new dance now
Train conductor Violet is hoping to find
a fellow passenger to journey through life with.
# I know you'll get to like it if you give it a chance now. #
Welcome aboard the Love Express,
calling at a romantic dinner for two
and also a goodnight kiss.
Welcome aboard! SHE LAUGHS
Welcome, Violet. Thank you.
Are you excited to be here? Yeah, excited.
When was the last time you were on a date?
This is actually the longest I've been single,
because I tend to rush into relationships.
In the past, when it comes to being in relationships,
I have been a very fast, express track to romance.
Shall I take your jacket? Oh, yes, thank you.
But this time, I just want a nice coastal journey,
just getting to know the person properly
without rushing into anything.
Welcome. What would you like?
Can I get a Mai Tai?
Yes, you can.
How are you feeling about all of this?
Um, a bit nervous, cause it's just the unknown.
What have you dreamed might happen?
Oh, someone I've ghosted. SHE LAUGHS
Seriously? Yeah, that would...
Was that your biggest fear? Yeah, I think that.
You just saved them in your contacts as do not answer.
No, block and delete. Ignore!
I tend to date people
and then kind of just continue for the sake of it,
or I try and make them end it with me.
So I'm trying to break out of these toxic habits.
Who are you looking for?
Someone fun, adventurous, and a good sense of humour.
And a good sense of humour, of course. Yeah.
I do love tattoos, piercings.
I do love the creative kind of look.
They have their own individual sense of style.
No, it's good. No, it's horrible, innit?
It's good, it's good! HE LAUGHS
I like the colour, it's like the ocean.
Yeah.
And I'm a bit of a mermaid, so... Are you? ..it goes well.
E.T. by Katy Perry
Ready to make a splash is 37-year-old Reya,
who wants to find an equally adventurous companion.
I love swimming in the ocean. I like to go and explore.
In the ocean, thoughts just were set free.
I'm a lot older than I look and act. SHE LAUGHS
Hello! SHE CHUCKLES
How are you? Hi, I'm very well.
I'm here to dive in and see what happens.
I need adventure in my life because I get bored easy.
Shall I take your jacket?
Yes, please. Thank you.
You like bright colours.
I do. I'm a colourful person, Fred.
So my type,
I like 'em any height, curvy and voluptuous.
That would definitely feed my eyes.
Give me fire that pours on the rain.
Give me someone that I definitely want to see again.
Here we are. Hello!
Hi, how are you? Nice to meet you.
I'm Reya. I'm Violet.
Nice to meet you. Hi, Violet.
I wouldn't do well with a boring girl.
I would get bored.
It's a nice name.
Thank you.
And my favourite colour's actually purple.
Close enough. THEY LAUGH
I will tell you a little secret. Go on.
When I go to the beach, something happens to my legs.
When I go in the water.
She swims. THEY LAUGH
What happens? What, you swim?
Come on, legs, water, something happens to them.
I'm trying not to have any judgement right now.
Wo-o-o-o-w!
You better say something amazing.
You turn into a mermaid or something like that.
Thank you. Where was that ten minutes ago?
Let's ask some basics, like.
I don't even want to ask your age. OK, I'll ask your...
Oh, you don't want to ask my age? Well, I do... Try!
I don't... I want to ask it in...a subtle way.
So let's say kind of, like, TV show kind of eras.
Oh, OK. Yeah.
So my thing would be, like, Keenan And Kel.
THEY LAUGH That's the one.
Ladies, I am so sorry.
A couple of guests have complained
that there's too much noise at the bar.
Oh. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.
I'm only kidding! Ohh!
Don't say that, cos then we could get louder.
I felt so bad. I was just like, "Oh, crap."
Are you ready to go to your table?
I think so. Yeah. I actually forgot we were going to eat.
I am hungry.
How long have you been single?
Maybe a year and a half. It was, like,
quite a hard thing to accept
because we parent so well together.
Mm-hm. But we realised that we just couldn't deliver
for each other. What about yourself?
Uh... THEY LAUGH
Erm, so...
For me, um, he was very abusive.
I fell head over heels in love with this man.
I thought he was wonderful. And then it changed.
I mean, sometimes he'd call me 175 times a day
just to check where I was.
Any money I had,
he wanted control of it.
It wasn't just the financial abuse.
You know, being called thick, "You've put on weight,
"you're stupid," that hurt more.
I was such a confident person
that I don't think...I ever recognised myself for
a long, long time.
Sorry.
For me, we don't have any relationship whatsoever.
There's still that trauma
of what happened in my life with him before.
Yeah, of course. Of course.
I've wasted so much of my life loving the wrong person,
that now, if I can love the wrong one,
I can love the right one. SHE LAUGHS
I'm ready to be with someone now. Yeah.
Obviously, there are always
going to be that niggling in my back, is this too good to be true?
Yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah.
But I always have this saying that you take care of me,
I take care of you. Yeah.
That's most probably why they've ended up sitting us together.
Right, you're gonna have to excuse me,
cos I do need to go to the toilet. No worries.
Do you mind? It'd be weird if I did. THEY LAUGH
Hi. Well, I got what I asked for, that's for sure!
He's lovely.
Like, huge.
But, there's a but.
He's from up north, like, miles away.
I'm thinking, how the hell are we going to make that work?
You've got a bum bag like me.
Yay! Bum bag..high five. Wait, what else are they called?
Fanny packs. Oh... I didn't want to say it!
I was going to do this all day. Grow up.
Grow up? Uh-uh... OK. Damn.
Talking about it, tell me about your family.
Do you have siblings?
Um, yeah. So I've got one brother. OK. And I grew up, basically,
it was just me and my mum and my brother.
It was hard with my mum, like, coming out.
She was quite cultural. Yeah. And very religious.
At the time, I didn't know anyone, so I felt like
I was going through an internal battle by myself,
like, "Oh, but is this right? Is this wrong?
"I don't know what I want."
If I was to dress a bit more tomboyish,
then she'd be like, "Oh, you look like a boy."
Blah, blah, blah. OK. It's those kind of things.
That was something I had to work through. Is it just that?
Is it just your sexuality that
becomes the barrier between you? Yeah, yeah.
It was very difficult.
I did go through really bad depression
and you do feel quite lonely.
It's very easy to be like, "Oh, how could she think like that?"
But it's just like, no, you need to actually think...
..look at her background. And she grew up in Africa.
In Uganda, homosexuality is illegal,
which is why I don't want to be so judgemental of her.
At the moment, we're just...we're talking.
Talking about it honestly helped a lot dealing with these emotions.
Now I'm happy and proud how I am, so, yeah.
Have you done a blind date before? No! I know, right?
But you don't know who to expect.
Coming today was a brave thing to do.
And I know that because I did it, too.
So this is a gift.
And it includes
special crystals on there that are for love.
And I want to give it to you today for self-love
because it's a brave thing for you to do today.
So there's a gift for you that I made with my mummy. Thank you.
That's really sweet. Can I wear it now? Go for it.
I will wear it, though. Thank you.
Hiya!
That was so... Can I do that again, please?
I'm so sorry... PRODUCER: Hiya!
Make-up artist Morgan's love life needs a makeover.
She's after an all-natural romance.
I'm the joker of the family.
You can hear me from a mile away. Normally it's my stick or my mouth.
You are a girl on a mission. Oh, everyone says that.
So what brings you here?
A date. A date?
So what has it been like for you dating?
Difficult. Has it? Hard, yeah.
I've been on a couple of dates and it never worked out.
So I want to meet someone who's going to like me for me.
Anything in particular you're looking for?
Good personality. Right.
Can have a laugh and can chit-chat. Chit-chat is important?
Yeah. I don't like silence. Shall I take you to the table?
Oh, thank you. Come with me.
I find dating apps really difficult because I've just been ghosted.
Let me get you the menu. Thank you.
I was like, "OK, you do you." But, like,
you're not coming back because I'm not
someone's second option, second best.
I just want to spend time with someone
and maybe get married and have kids one day.
Just waiting for my date. I'm so nervous.
Honestly, Jess. Like, you wouldn't know how nervous I am.
First-timer Jake is hoping beginners luck can bag him
a perfect partner.
I would like to get married and having a house
and children and whatnot. But I've never kissed a girl.
It would be hard to know, you know, am I even doing it right?
I can quite confidently say no experience at all.
Hello. Are you OK, Jake? How are you feeling today?
Nervous, but excited. Yeah?
Just wanting to do something to build the confidence.
It'd be nice to meet someone as well out of it.
What a great thing to do. Yes, ready. Come with me.
I've never had relationships before. I like someone calm, positive...
Please be me, please be me, please be me.
..you know, who's friendly.
Hiya. Hi, there. Nice to meet you. I'm sorry, wrong way.
Nice to meet you. Hi. Nice to meet you. Are you all right?
Yes, very well, thank you. How are you?
I'm good. Like the leather jacket. Thank you.
What's your name? So my name's Jake.
My name's Morgan. Nice to meet you.
Sorry, no.No, sorry. THEY LAUGH AWKWARDLY
Uh...
Where are you from?
Near Southampton, Winchester, Portsmouth area. Oh, OK.
Yeah, nice. What about you? I live in Southampton.
Southampton, yes. Yeah. It's not too far at all. No.
Oh, thank you so much. Oh, hello. Hello there. How are you?
Yes, very well, thank you. Would you like a drink?
Yes. Could I have a...
Do you do a sunrise mocktail? So a virgin...
..sunrise cocktail. That's right, yeah. Cheers.
And would you like me to take your coat? Yes, why not?
Yeah, let's go nuts. It's too hot with it on.
Thank you very much. Oh!
Ah. Yeah.
This is the first date I've ever been on. Have you?
I've never been on a date.
Quite nerve-racking, but it's nice.
Yeah, it's very nice. I was very nervous. Yeah.
Ahem.
Ah, yes.
What about your first date? Oh, my God.
I think all I remember is just staring at this menu for
so long. I didn't know what you were meant to do. Yeah.
We just didn't know what to say to each other. Right.
I think if the menus had been taken away,
we probably would have found something to say. Something!
Yeah, it was just like, "Um..."
I never want to think about that again.
So, are you competitive? Oh, yeah.
Do you play golf? No? You? Yeah. Yeah? Yeah.
So the problem is, being 6'4", I'm left-handed.
Oh, you're lefty? Mm. So you're artistic.
I make all my kids' birthday cakes.
Are you winding me up? No. You're dead serious? Yeah.
You make a cake?
That's what I made the other day. From scratch.
Are you serious? Yeah, yeah.
That's actually really good. What on hell made you just do that?
Cos it was my daughter's birthday the other day.
You're like a big softie. Mm.
One of my kids,
he used to not cry because he thought I didn't cry,
cos he just thought his dad was this big tough guy
and that's what he thought he needed to be.
And I noticed one day that he was holding it in.
So I think I might have watched Big Hero 6 with him.
And... And let him see me cry.
So why did you come on here?
Because you must have guys dropping in your...
I'm never going to walk up to a man who gives me the eye
and expect me to walk up to him. I believe in chivalry.
Ah, so you'll never open a door
and you'd never walk roadside with me.
Like, that's little things that, like... That's really lovely.
..that I just think are done.
I asked for an ovener. Did you? Mm-hm.
So I want an ovener that lives in myself.
Yeah, but I was thinking, "How's this going to work?"
Wow.
HE SIGHS
Uh...
Taking in the scenery. It's quite a restaurant, isn't it? Quite pretty.
Yeah.
That's two nervous people.
100%.
Oh, this is really cute. This could work. I hope they do.
Have you done much blind dates, dating, anything like that?
Um... This is my first blind date. Yeah.
I've had one boyfriend. I was with him about nine months.
It just didn't end good. I just haven't found a good one.
What about you?
I've not really had the opportunity so much
because I've had quite a few of my own health issues.
OK. Can I ask?
So I was diagnosed when I was about 11 with IBD,
ulcerative colitis, I got.
My large bowel was removed
and I had a stoma for a little bit. OK. And all this time,
my liver was also an issue. Oh, God.
And they said,
"Oh, you're going to be listed for transplant."
I was terminally ill without a liver transplant,
and now I've gone to having a normal,
healthy life and expected
to live, you know, to a normal old age.
Ever since that day of the surgery,
it's like a second birthday.
Without it, I wouldn't be here.
Oh, bless.
Having had a transplant organ from someone else,
I think it'd be not quite right if you don't kind
of maximise your life.
I'm almost living for two people now
and it's making that family kind of proud as well.
It's been a long, tough road,
but I think kind of everything's settled down now.
Get out there and have some fun.
Do everything you ever wanted to do.
Yeah. Oh, that's good. I'm glad you're doing that.
I want to say, up to 15,
16, I was always in and out of hospital. Yeah.
There was one time I was in hospital about four-and-a-half months
because I had a really major operation on my spine.
I had the metal rods in. Yeah. At the age of 14,
you should be going out and doing stuff,
and I'm just stuck in hospital.
People can only appreciate it if they've gone through
something similar. Yeah.
And you get a bit more kind of connection that way, don't you?
Yeah. It makes you appreciate every day that little bit more.
Yeah.
I mean, I think doing this, once you get going kind
of eases everything, doesn't it?
Yeah. And it's like, whatever you're bonding with,
we've got a good chat at the moment.
You... Y-You look lovely.
Scrub up well.
Yum. Do you like cooking? Do I like what, sorry? Do you like cooking?
Oh, cooking. I don't know why, I thought you said cricket.
Crickets?
I like the sound of crickets. We can talk about crickets.
No, I don't want to talk about crickets!
I think they've got a nice sound.
They feel like you're on holiday.
Why are you judging crickets out here? Right.
All right, let's be serious.
Let's try to be serious for five seconds. What do you do?
OK, so I have my own pet business. Mm! So I do animal care,
but my main role is a therapeutic foster carer.
And I've done that for like eight years.
Me and my ex did it together.
It was a lot to walk away from, for me to split up.
I think fostering children with complex needs did have
a toll on our relationship.
You get attached to them quite a bit?
Oh, yeah, every time. Yeah.
It never gets easier. It is hard.
So it was quite a long relationship,
which started off how most do. We were actually engaged.
That's why I think it was hard for my family, right? Girl...
At one point, we had two girls and a boy.
I felt like the dream, that was it.
I felt like I was winning.
Like, I had someone that could potentially be my wife,
plus three children.
Are you ready? I think we are. Oh!
I love making a big dinner and saying,
"Dinner's ready", and then we all sit at a table.
I love all that. So for that to break down yet,
it's left a lot of cracks in my heart.
I'm just going to the toilet.
Please, let me show you the way. Thanks.
So it's very hard to imagine going that far again.
I'm a bit boundaried now and, I'll be honest,
maybe a bit scared of love.
Date's going well, right?
I think she is...interested?
Just be yourself.
I am. It's great vibes.
But I'm not sure she's my type in certain ways.
You're still going with that one, yeah?
Enjoy.
You're still going with that one, yeah?
I'm going to suck the ice. You do what you need to do.
Just get that last drop of alcohol.
There we go.
Do it in layers. Be careful. Yes. Oh...
What's your work and stuff? I'm actually at uni at the moment.
So I am a make-up artist in prosthetics.
Cool. And then I work in retail. So I work in fragrance.
It's customer-facing, isn't it?
My job is fun. Like, I meet loads of people.
I think the last two years, I've just got this confidence.
Yeah? Like, if you met me three years ago, I'd stay shy.
Back in high school and college, I got bullied a lot.
I used to go sit in the art block for lunch.
I used to avoid people. I never went to parties,
never did stuff like a normal teenager would do.
I didn't really have friends. I was very, like, a loner
in high school. I was.
I've always been told, "You can't do this, you can't do that."
I always used to believe it,
so I've always been knocked down about my confidence.
How have you been...? Have you been all right recently?
Yeah. Since my last operation, I said to the doctors,
"Can I just have a life now? Like, I want to go out,
"I want to make friends."
When I turned 18, my mum gave me £20
and shoved me on the bus for the week and she's like,
"Right, you don't do it now, you're never going to do it."
And that's how I got my confidence.
I never try and use my disability. If I can do it,
I'll do it. All this freedom now, I love it.
Amazing.
I love my independence. But sometimes I do
sit around and think, "Oh, I wish I had someone."
I don't want to cry right now. Bloody hell. Sorry.
I think it shows you've got a strong personality.
It would be so easy to say, "Oh, I can't do that." Yeah.
Because there's been times where I've thought you can just sit there,
feel sorry for yourself. Yeah.
And it's not going to do you any good, is it?
I do everything by myself.
Even getting onto the kitchen side into a cupboard.
My housemates are walking, and they're like,
"Can you not text us to come and help you?"
And I'm like, "If I can do it, I'll do it."
I just say, "If you hear a big bang, come in."
You're not going to stop there.
You've got different coloured eyes.
I have, yeah!
It's proper cool! You've got a blue eye...
I've got one green eye and one blue eye, yeah. Oh.
Has it always been like that? Always.
Sometimes I could know people for years... Really?
..and they don't pick it up. And then all of a sudden...
And then you meet some... Yeah, and then I meet some...
..big readhead from the North...
You've got it, and they can't keep you...
He's, like, lovely-looking. Lovely, sweet guy.
He's... He's what I wanted.
Let me go with something. No, it's fine. Are you sure?
Yeah, yeah, it's fine.
The distance thing is my biggest problem.
Is that possible to make something like that work?
"True love is found in the smallest gestures." What have you got?
"Don't give up." Oh, really?
I just like her overall energy, really. Just gave off good vibes.
Hello. Hello.
So are you guys going to see each other again?
Yes. Yeah.
You can say that more enthusiastic.
Yeah, I can't wait.
Oh, definitely, yeah.
Yeah, I think so. We'd like to see how this goes. Yeah.
It's going to be a long drive. It is going to be a long drive.
I've had a really lovely time and you are such a nice guy.
Me too. Thank you so much.
Yeah, we're going to carry on tonight
and take each day as it comes.
And then you can do the first trip to Essex.
Yeah, that might be the one. That might be the one.
I'll get a kiss later. You'll get a kiss later.
You can have a kiss now.
Oh, God, you can keep me warm.
Pour me a single.
Right. 25 grams I'm looking for.
I mean, that's profitable. It's good for your stock, no?
You'll have thirsty guests, Jamie.
# You keep lying when you ought to be truthing... #
Ex-business owner and interior designer Wendy
is looking for a bespoke man.
# These boots are made for walkin'... #
My dad always said that when they made them older, me,
they threw it away
because God said you couldn't have more than one Wendy on the planet.
# One of these days these boots are gonna walk all over you. #
I like things to be right.
There you go. I'm working on it.
Nice to meet you. Really, really nice to meet you.
This is quite the outfit, though. Do you love dressing up like this?
Yes, I do. Yes.
And how's it been with dating for you?
Oh. Well, you've come to the right place.
It would seem, thank you. This is what we do.
I think I'd like someone that would woo me and want to be with me.
Come with me.
Some guys turn up with flowers, which I think is really nice.
It's down to him to make that element a surprise for me,
to make me go, "Ooh, I'd like a bit more of him."
How's you? I'm very well, thank you. Lovely. How are you?
You look like the sort of lady who would enjoy a bit of champagne.
Beautiful, thank you. That'll take the edge off, won't it?
It will, won't it?
I like someone that makes me feel like I'm important in their life.
I want somebody that can enlighten me about things as well.
Oh, right.
I'm a sucker for romance. Other than that,
as long as you know how to dress.
And if he's a perfect gentleman, done.
# Mustang Sally... #
Here to see if he can get his date's heart racing is car tradesman Gary.
# You better slow your Mustang down... #
A lot of people say,
"At your age you shouldn't be wearing bright colours."
No, no, no, no.
No matter what age you are. I'm always layered.
That's a colourful shirt. That's really nice.
I thought it was quite appropriate. Yeah, that's a big statement.
There's nothing better than going out
and looking the best, you know. It's a nice feeling.
Have you got a present for your date? I have. What is it?
A little chocolate heart. Perfect. Goes with the shirt.
I am a gentleman. I'm old school.
I like to make ladies feel like a lady.
You know, you open the door, you put the chair out for her,
and everybody loves a compliment.
It's a spring in your step, doesn't it?
Have you been doing much dating lately? Not really, no. No?
It's like riding a bike, you've just got to get back on it.
That's it.
I'm really looking forward to meeting somebody attractive,
dressed nice, probably chatty like me.
People say about love at first sight, and I believe in that.
But you've just got to get out there and suck it and see.
Hello. How are you? I'm good, thank you. How are you? I'm good.
You smell nice. Thank you. Your name? Wendy. Gary.
Nice to meet you, Gary. Yeah. What are you drinking?
I'm on champagne. Can I have an old-fashioned?
Yeah, of course. Please.
When someone drinks on a date, I think it's sexy.
You look very smart. Thank you. Glad to be.
You've got to come in,
you've got to come in hot, you know? I love it.
And there's a little present for you.
Thank you. Oh, that's so nice.
Well, I think it's quite appropriate.
Chocolates. HE LAUGHS
Thank you very much, sir. Always a pleasure.
Thank you. Cheers.
Cheers. Your good health. Yes... Nice to meet you. And you!
Any festivals you're looking at or...?
Last year I went to something called Om & Bass.
Drum and bass? No, Omm. Oh, Om & Bass.
Meditation and sound healing. But then it turned into... Go on.
No, I feel like I'm cutting you off.
But this is why my friend said I need to get tested for ADHD.
I don't need testing. It comes up severe every time.
I fully know.
If you've not seen all the fidgets and all the fidgets... Yeah!
But it's good to be a bit spicy. Yeah. Neuro-spicy. Neuro-spicy!
Just makes us different. Just makes it interesting. Yeah.
- Oh, my God, he's so lovely. - Is he?
Yeah. He's a bit quiet, but he's really lovely.
All right, I need to let you go. All right, love you. Bye-bye.
I'm so sorry that was my mum.
Oh, quick pep talk. Yeah!
Hello. How would we like to do this?
Did you want to go half or something?
No, I'll pay for that. You don't have to.
No, of course I will. You're so sweet. Thank you. It's nice...
How kind of you.
Next time, I'm paying.
Did you have a nice time? Oh, thank you.
Yeah, it was really good. Good.
Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you. Lovely to meet you both.
You too. Thank you. You too. Thank you. Take care.
Did you fancy him?
He's a good-looking lad, yeah. But, like,
there was a couple of times it was a bit awkward.
I feel like...I don't know if he likes me. So, yeah.
Thank you so much. Thank you so much. Thanks. Have a lovely evening.
You too. Thank you.
Ugh, gonna trip. This is quite nice. It is quite nice.
Would you like to see each other again?
You go first. Am I going first?
So I thought it's a great experience.
Obviously it's my first date. I've had a wonderful time.
I didn't feel any romantic connection there,
but it would be great to be friends.
Obviously we've both been through difficult times... Mm.
..and I think we both can relate to that.
Yeah.
It was a lovely date and dinner was lovely.
I didn't feel the romance... At the beginning, I didn't.
But when I started getting to know you,
I could maybe see something.
But if you want to say friends, that's fine with me. Yeah.
I hope you enjoyed your messy back out.
Yeah, it was very good, thank you. I had a great time.
Thank you for being such a nice first date.
Thank you, too.
I love your chain. You do? Yeah, I love it.
It's a good bit of bling, plastic. But there we go. Oh, looks great.
I like to look nice. It's one of the things that's sort of died
a little bit now, isn't it? When I was younger,
you went out, you always looked smart. Always. Always.
You've got it just right.
And it matches the colours that are in your jacket...blazer. Exactly.
Yeah. A lot of thought went into it.
Good for you. Yeah, I'm impressed.
So where are you from?
Shropshire. Then I went off to Turkey.
And how long did you live in Turkey for?
I got stuck there.
There's obviously a story in this, isn't there?
There's always a story somewhere, isn't there?
There's a story coming here.
So my partner of 14 years, he said,
"I think what we should do is retire from work
"and buy a boat and sail around the Aegean
"and the Mediterranean." And I'm like,
"Sounds perfect to me." So that's what we did.
I went to Turkey to start the ball rolling,
getting residence permits... Yeah. ..and we sold our house.
Oh, you really went for it!
Yeah, yeah, I finished with...
I sold my business and money went in the bank
and he said, "I'm not coming." Huh!
"I've instructed the solicitor to give me all the money
"and I'm not coming." I was like... What a curveball!
You could have knocked me down with a feather. Yeah!
After 14 years? 14 years.
My world collapsed. It did, honestly.
My whole world collapsed.
There was nothing that made me think,
"I don't want to be with this man."
And I thought that was the man that I was going to be with.
How's...? Sorry. Sorry.
Yeah.
My solicitor said to me, "It's in joint names, the house.
"What's the split?" Wow. And I said, "50-50."
So the house sold and the money was sorted
and that was the end of that. 14 years just down the drain.
You lose trust with people. It's like,
do I want to go through this again?
Do I want to go through what I thought was a good life again,
only to be, you know, knocked down?
Because I stayed in Turkey.
Because I gave everything up and I'm backwards
and forwards between here and Turkey because I rent a villa out there.
I was more concentrating on putting the pieces back together.
Now, I'm thinking, mm, perhaps I ought
to think about finding somebody that I'd like to spend some time with,
because I think I've got a lot to give.
I mean, I'm getting older now and I was like, "Mm!"
Age is only a number. I know it is.
Got much on your bucket list?
I've had some adventures in my time.
Yeah! And I've seen some amazing places.
When I was in Vietnam, I mean, it was amazing.
They've got all these tunnels. Well, they've got
the same thing in Cappadocia in Turkey so...
I mean, the tunnels are tiny.
I mean, I couldn't even get down them.
Oh, no, these were like...you could build a room.
They were literally living down there, you know?
Yeah. And they would just stay down there...
And they made it where they came out,
yeah, amazing to see. Absolutely fantastic.
Well, I think we're both chatterboxes.
Let me have a taste. I've never had an old-fashioned.
Right.
Oh, nice. It's good, innit? Yeah.
Don't you find, though,
it gets harder and harder as you get older to meet people?
Of course it does.
Who's around? I dunno. And, like, where do you find them?
My wife, I met her at work. And what happened to your wife?
We was married ten years,
and then she went off with somebody else.
Oh, I'm sorry.
I kept my son. My son stayed with me.
OK, that's good.
He was only nine at the time.
But, yeah, that was difficult.
My son was my life. Charlie, from day one said,
"I want to be with you, Dad." He was my one and all,
so that's what I did. It is hard.
You've got to be both parents, which is difficult, you know.
And did he have anything to do with his mum?
No, not really. Oh, that's a shame. Which is quite sad,
but did what we could for him. You know,
tried to keep him as normal as possible.
And he's turned into a lovely guy, so now married,
got a couple of kids. Nice.
Two grandchildren. Nice. Nine and seven.
Yeah, they're pretty much my world.
You know, they're a great little pair. Of course they are.
I sort of put my life, well,
certainly my dating life, on hold because you don't want...
..I didn't want anybody else coming into Charlie's life.
I mean, he's 33 now, so it'd be nice to have someone.
It just makes it more fun that you can,
you know, share that experience together.
As the record says, you know, dust yourself off,
get back in the race. Yeah, yeah. That's what it's all about. Yeah.
It's not wood. Oh, dear. Touch wood. No, don't touch it.
Yeah, we can do that one or that one. It doesn't matter.
OK, I'm going to get some cover and I'm going to get comfy.
I'll just put my legs up.
Where were we in our conversation? Oh, yeah.
You were telling me about dating life.
I've gone from long-term, didn't spend that much time single,
and then going straight to another long-term again
and then this time I was just like,
I can't be rushing into relationships like that again.
For sure, there was a spark, but for me, I don't know.
I think because of my past relationship,
it took its toll and it's taken a while to heal from.
So I'm a bit more boundaried now, which is good,
but also not so great dating because it means
I'm putting barriers up before they're up.
Like you, I'm more trying to take things slow,
which has proven difficult in our world.
Typical lesbian, it's like,
"Oh, my God. Two mums, ugh! I'm in love with you."
There you are.
To self-love and healing. And growing.
And growth. And for the power of woman.
Yes! Boom.
Let's go.
Would you like to see each other again?
She was looking at me.
Are you waiting for me?
Why? You go.
I would like to see Violet again.
Shall we go halfsies? Where's my bag? No.
What do you mean no? I had a really good time with you. Ohh.
And I want to just show you how much I appreciate you. Aww!
I would like see Reya again. Why?
I mean, look at her. Whoa, whoa.
You've been holding that compliment in all night.
I have not been holding that in.
Thank you, Violet. That was nice.
It's all right.
You've got good energy. I like good energy.
You could smile a bit more than that. Hey, the dimple comes out.
Have a lovely rest of your evening.
Thank you. Thank you.
You're going to get thrown off the chair.
Why are you trying to test my strength, woman?
Yes. Do you do kickboxing? Yeah. Do you? Yeah. What?
Are you serious? Hey! Hey!
THEY LAUGH
Hello. VOICE OVER PHONE: Hi.
How are you? All right, and you?
Good, good, good. He's so nice.
He arrived with a bag with real posh chocolates for me.
Honestly, he's lovely.
There's nothing quite like saying it with flowers.
Do I have to put it in my mouth?
Whatever you want. Well...
Cheers, Fred.
Welcome back. Thank you. Thank you.
A rose for a rose.
Oh, my God. You're just the best. You're just the best!
Thank you, sweetie. Oh, my God. You're welcome.
I'm blown over. What a gentleman.
That makes such a difference.
It makes you feel special as a woman.
I hope he likes me as much as I like him.
This is nice. I can't believe it.
You've made it so much easier. I was so nervous,
I tell you, Gary. I was thinking,
"Oh, what's going to happen? What's going to happen?"
Hey, how are you? I'm good. Good.
I see the bill on your side. Do you want me to do them together?
Yes, of course.
Thank you, Gary. Perfect gentleman.
So would you like to see each other again?
Shall I go first? Go on, then.
I had a great time, but I don't think...
I'd love to be friends, but I don't think romantically. OK.
Cheers. Cheers. Good fun. Yeah.
I'm a believer in love at first sight
and it didn't come to me that way.
OK. But...sorry. It's all right. Don't worry.
I'm laden down with presents, as you can see.
I'd have liked to have gone out on another date.
That's OK.
Maybe we could be friends and see where it goes. Yeah, yeah.
I can't remember the last time I got romanced. HE LAUGHS
Oh, don't give me all that nonsense.
I feel spoilt now.
It is really nice
to know that there are nice gentlemen out there.
And it makes you feel really special. Yeah.
Lovely lady. Thank you.
I've had a fantastic time. Yeah, me too. Thank you. Catch you later.
Ta-ra, darling. Bye, love.
# I got the eye of the tiger... #
I'm a nature girlie, for sure.
Can I take you on a hike? Where to?
I'll have to think about that. If you can keep up.
You... Excuse me!
# Roar louder than a lion cos I am the champion
I liked your energy.
It was good. You were good to talk to.
Aww, thank you. You're a bit odd.
# Ooh, ooh You're gonna hear me roar
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