Huck watches people go on dates

Hey. Remember last week when I talked about Gary Gulman? Well, he is even nicer than I thought he could be. Since I shared the blog on social media, tagging him in the process, he retweeted, replied and followed me on Twitter. It’s true. You can see it for yourself. I messaged him privately and expressed my gratitude; he answered even more kindly. Support the people you like. That’s enough of that. I recently watched First Dates UK for the first time. That’s what I am going to be discussing today. Welcome to Monday.

I know. I am late to the party. I have seen clips of First Dates UK, and I remember when the Irish version premiered, and we all lost our minds. Is that show still on the air? I haven’t even checked. Anyway, I was looking for something to watch and saw that First Dates was available on demand. I decided to give it a go.

My verdict? What a delightful little show it is. I met up with Fred recently, and he described it perfectly (I assume he is a diehard fan): it's completely inoffensive. I know that when it comes to reality TV, the authenticity of the content can be called into question. The beauty of First Dates is that they seem to film way more dates than they focus on and pick the most interesting ones. It’s a simple but elegant TV production.

I won’t go into specific dates that stood out to me because that isn’t the purpose of today’s blog. Like most of my blogs, it's all about me! I joke, but that is what we writers do. We think, reflect and then write about what we have been thinking about and reflecting on. I have been out of the dating scene for a while now. I am a proud single pringle. Watching First Dates could have made me jealous of all these people going on dates and connecting. I could have thought I didn’t have the tools to be bold and start pursuing a partner seriously again. Thanks to my good friends Kurt and Jack, I have a great support system. When it comes to First Dates, a support system is an understatement. Combined with the incomparable Fred Sirieix (the front-of-house manager) and the rest of the incredibly enthusiastic and friendly staff, all experts in their chosen fields, it all equates to the best scenario you would want to be in when going on a first date. Maybe I should pull my bootstraps up again and get to work. I guess, stay tuned.

That’s enough reflection for one day. Maybe you should go watch First Dates and see how it makes you feel. Thank you for reading my blog today. I very much appreciate it. Thank you for your time.