First Dates

First Dates
Genre Reality
Starring Fred Sirieix
Narrated by Brian Protheroe
Music by Miguel d'Oliveira
Country of origin United Kingdom
Original language(s) English
No. of series 9 (regular)
1 (celebrity)
No. of episodes 68 (regular, to 6 December 2016)
5 (celebrity)
Production
Running time 60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production company(s) Twenty Twenty
Distributor Warner Bros. Television Productions UK
Release
Original network Channel 4
Picture format 16:9
Original release 20 June 2013 (2013-06-20) – present
External links
Website

First Dates is a British reality television programme that has aired on Channel 4 since 20 June 2013. The programme is narrated by Brian Protheroe.

Production

The programme is filmed at the Paternoster Chop House restaurant in Central London, showing many people on dates, all of whom have not met each other before. At the end of the date, the couples are interviewed together and asked whether they would like to see each other again. The restaurant is closed to the public while filming takes place. The restaurant is fitted with 42 cameras and there are at least 70 crew members on set during filming, which lasts 15 hours a day. Each diner is given £25 towards the cost of their meal.[1]

The spin-off show, First Dates Hotel, follows the same format with contestants meeting for the first time in a hotel restaurant, but if the date goes well, the couples are offered the opportunity to check-in for the night. The first series was filmed at Le Vieux Castillon in Castillon-du-Gard[2] offering idyllic settings with a variety of activities for the successful second daters, and added sommelier Xavier Chapelou to Fred Sirieix’s team. The second series was filmed at Aquapetra Resort & Spa in Campania near Naples, Italy.[2][3]

Restaurant staff

The restaurant's maître d'hôtel Fred Sirieix offers pieces to camera on the nature of love, romance and dating.[4] When not filming for First Dates he works as the general manager at Galvin at Windows, a Michelin-starred restaurant at the London Hilton on Park Lane.[5]

The waiting staff and barman do not work in the restaurant full time, but are recruited for when the series is being filmed. CiCi[6] Coleman is an actor who trained at New York Film Academy, Laura[7] Tott was briefly a member of the Royal Navy,[8] and barman Merlin Griffiths is a pub landlord[9] who has previously worked as a global brand ambassador for Bombay Sapphire gin.[10] The waiting staff are joined by Sam Conrad and Austin Ventour.

Transmissions

Regular

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes[11]
120 June 2013[12]25 July 2013[13]6[13]
212 February 2014[14]2 April 2014[15]8[15]
36 March 2015[16]29 April 2015[17]9[17]
410 September 2015[18]17 December 2015[19]16[19]
515 January 2016[20]12 February 2016[21]5[21]
615 March 2016[22]19 April 2016[23]6[23]
79 August 201619 December 201617
Christmas Special19 December 20161
Valentine's Special13 February 20171
818 April 201711 July 201713
918 September 201718 December 201713
Christmas Special25 December 20171
Valentine's Special16 February 20181
10 04 April 2018 06 June 2018 10

Celebrity

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
Stand Up to Cancer special12 October 20151
18 July 201629 July 20164
Stand Up to Cancer special2 November 20171

First Dates Hotel

SeriesStart dateEnd dateEpisodes
12 January 20176 February 20176
28 January 201812 February 20186
311 September 20186

Special episodes

On 17 December 2015[24] Channel 4 aired a special episode of First Dates subtitled "The Proposal". This saw the return of 5 couples who had initially had their first dates in earlier episodes and who had formed a relationship and also included the first marriage proposal of a couple, by Scott to Victoria, who had met during an earlier episode of series 4.

Celebrity First Dates

On 12 October 2015, a celebrity edition of First Dates was shown.[25] This was part of a fundraising evening on Channel 4 for Stand Up to Cancer. The celebrities taking part were Jorgie Porter, an actress in Hollyoaks; Anthea Turner, TV presenter; Jamie Laing from Made in Chelsea; and Alexandra Burke, a singer, and winner of the fifth series of The X Factor.

Series 1 (2016)

A full celebrity series began on 8 July 2016 for four episodes.

A second Celebrity First Dates for Stand Up to Cancer aired in November 2017. Celebrities appearing were Sinitta, Roman Kemp, Michael Fabricant, Matt Terry and Jan Leeming.

International versions

The format created in United Kingdom has been adapted in USA, Ireland, Canada, Australia, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Poland, Israel, France, Netherlands and Brazil.

Country Title TV channel Year aired
 Netherlands First Dates NPO 3 (BNNVARA) March 18, 2015 – present
 Canada First Dates Slice September 1, 2015 – April 18, 2017
 Australia First Dates Seven Network February 3, 2016 – present
 Spain First Dates Cuatro April 17, 2016 – present
 Ireland First Dates RTÉ2 April 21, 2016 – present
 New Zealand First Dates Television New Zealand October 2016 - present
 Italy Primo appuntamento Real Time March 14, 2017 – present
 Poland Pierwsza Randka TVP2 March 16, 2017 – November 16, 2017
 USA First Dates NBC April 7, 2017 – May 26, 2017
 France Premier rendez-vous et plus si affinités TF1 June 12, 2017 – present
 Brazil À Primeira Vista Rede Bandeirantes June 22, 2017 – September 21, 2017
 Israel דייט ראשון
Date Rishon		 Channel 2 December 18, 2017 – present
 Sweden Första dejten SVT March 13, 2017 – present
 Argentina Primera Cita Telefe February 14, 2018 – present
 Germany First Dates – Ein Tisch für Zwei VOX March 5, 2018 – present

References

  1. ↑ Garo-Falides, Victoria; Pinnington, Rebecca (18 April 2017). "Where is the First Dates restaurant, can you visit it and will Fred Sirieix and the rest of the staff be there?". The Sun. Retrieved 21 April 2017.
  2. ↑ "Media - Aquapetra - English".
  3. ↑ "You can actually stay at the First Dates hotel!". 16 January 2018.
  4. ↑ Nicholson, Rebecca (16 September 2015). "From Blind Date to First Dates: how TV matchmaking grew up". The Guardian.
  5. ↑ "You'll never believe what First Dates maître d' Fred Sirieix used to look like before his TV  transformation". 22 July 2016.
  6. ↑ "Cici_Coleman (@cici_coleman_) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com.
  7. ↑ "Laura Nicole Tott (@lauratott__) • Instagram photos and videos". www.instagram.com.
  8. ↑ "She has seen herself the object of some unwanted desire in the First Dates restaurant - but is Laura single?". 27 April 2018.
  9. ↑ "Merlin Griffiths, The Priory Tavern". Cocktail Saturdays. Retrieved 2017-02-17.
  10. ↑ "32 Things You Probably Didn't Know About "First Dates"". BuzzFeed.
  11. ↑ "Episode Guide". Channel4. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  12. ↑ "First Dates - Series 1 Episode 1". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  13. 1 2 "First Dates - Series 1 Episode 6". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "First Dates - Series 2 Episode 1". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  15. 1 2 "First Dates - Series 2 Episode 8". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "First Dates - Series 3 Episode 1". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  17. 1 2 "First Dates - Series 3 Episode 9". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  18. ↑ "First Dates - Series 4 Episode 1". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  19. 1 2 "First Dates - Series 4 Episode 16". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "First Dates - Series 5 Episode 1". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  21. 1 2 "First Dates - Series 5 Episode 5". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  22. ↑ "First Dates - Series 6 Episode 1". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  23. 1 2 "First Dates - Series 6 Episode 6". All 4. Retrieved 27 April 2016.
  24. ↑ Delgado, Kasia (18 December 2015). "First Dates proposal – watch the moment a couple got engaged on Channel 4". RadioTimes.
  25. ↑ Wightman, Catriona (12 October 2015). "Aww! Jorgie Porter finds romance in Celebrity First Dates". Digital Spy.
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