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First Dates

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This article is about the British TV series. For versions in other countries and other uses of the term "first date", see First date (disambiguation).

First Dates
GenreReality
StarringFred Sirieix
Narrated byBrian Protheroe
Music byMiguel d'Oliveira
Country of originUnited Kingdom
Original languageEnglish
No. of series14 (regular)
1 (celebrity)
5 (hotel)
20 (overall)
No. of episodesTBA (regular)
7 (celebrity)
24 (hotel)
TBA (overall)
Production
Running time60 minutes (inc. adverts)
Production companyTwenty Twenty
Original release
NetworkChannel 4
Release20 June 2013 (2013-06-20) –
present

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 was originally 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.[citation needed]

The spin-off show, First Dates Hotel, follows the same TV 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.[1][2]

In 2020 it was announced that filming will move to Manchester.[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 was for 14 years the general manager at restaurant Galvin at Windows though left in December 2019.[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 Coleman is an actor who trained at New York Film Academy, Laura Tott was briefly a member of the Royal Navy,[citation needed] and barman Merlin Griffiths is a pub landlord[6] who has previously worked as a global brand ambassador for Bombay Sapphire gin.[7] The waiting staff are joined by Sam Conrad, Austin Ventour, Grant Urquhart, Will and Ehsia.

Transmissions

Regular

Series Start date End date Episodes[8]
1 20 June 2013 25 July 2013 6
2 12 February 2014 2 April 2014 8
3 6 March 2015 29 April 2015 9
4 10 September 2015 17 December 2015 15
5 15 January 2016 4 February 2016 4
6 15 March 2016 19 April 2016 6
7 9 August 2016 12 December 2016 17
8 18 April 2017 11 July 2017 13
9 18 September 2017 18 December 2017 13
10 4 April 2018 6 June 2018 10
11 29 October 2018 17 December 2018 8
12 16 April 2019 18 June 2019 10
13 12 November 2019 13 November 2019 6
14 20 February 2020 19 March 2020 5

Specials

Entitle Date
Valentine's Special 12 February 2016
Christmas Special 19 December 2016
Valentine's Special 13 February 2017
Christmas Special 25 December 2017
Valentine's Special 16 February 2018
Christmas Special 25 December 2018
Valentine's Special 14 February 2019
Christmas Special 25 December 2019
Valentine's Special 13 February 2020

Celebrity First Dates

Series Start date End date Episodes
SU2C 12 October 2015 1
1 8 July 2016 29 July 2016 4
SU2C 2 November 2017 1
SU2C 25 October 2018 1

First Dates Hotel

Series Start date End date Episodes
1 2 January 2017 6 February 2017 6
2 8 January 2018 12 February 2018 6
3 28 August 2018 9 October 2018 6
4 5 September 2019 3 October 2019 5
5 30 April 2020 11 June 2020 7

Celebrity First Dates Hotel

Series Start date End date Episodes
SU2C 10 October 2019 1

International versions

The format created in the United Kingdom has been adapted in Belgium, Finland, The Netherlands, Canada, Germany, Australia, Spain, Ireland, New Zealand, Italy, Poland, USA, France, Brazil, Israel, Sweden, Norway, Argentina, Portugal, Austria and South Africa.

Country Title TV channel Year aired
 Netherlands First Dates NPO 3 (BNNVARA) 18 March 2015 – present
 Canada First Dates Slice 1 September 2015 – 18 April 2017
 Germany First Dates sixx 21 October 2015 – 9 December 2015
First Dates – Ein Tisch für Zwei VOX 5 March 2018 – present
First Dates Hotel 20 April 2020 – present
 Australia First Dates Seven Network 3 February 2016 – present
 Spain First Dates Cuatro 17 April 2016 – present
 Ireland First Dates RTÉ2 21 April 2016 – present
 New Zealand First Dates Television New Zealand October 2016 – present
 Italy Primo appuntamento Real Time 14 March 2017 – present
 Poland Pierwsza Randka TVP2 16 March 2017 – 16 November 2017
 USA First Dates NBC 7 April 2017 – 26 May 2017
 France Premier rendez-vous et plus si affinités TF1 12 June 2017 – present
 Brazil À Primeira Vista Rede Bandeirantes 22 June 2017 – 21 September 2017
 Israel דייט ראשון
Date Rishon 		Channel 2 18 December 2017 – present
 Sweden Första dejten SVT 13 March 2017 – present
 Norway Første date TVNorge 4 January 2018 – present[9]
 Argentina Primera Cita Telefe 14 February 2018 – present
 Portugal First Dates – O Primeiro Encontro TVI 2 January 2019 – present
 Austria First Dates Austria ATV 17 April 2019 – present
 South Africa First Dates South Africa BBC Lifestyle 16 October 2019 – present
 Belgium First Dates Eén 5 March 2020 – present

References

  1. ^ "Media - Aquapetra - English".
  2. ^ "You can actually stay at the First Dates hotel!". 16 January 2018.
  3. ^ Heward, Emily (29 January 2020). "First Dates is filming its next series at a Manchester restaurant". men. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  4. ^ Nicholson, Rebecca (16 September 2015). "From Blind Date to First Dates: how TV matchmaking grew up". The Guardian.
  5. ^ bighospitality.co.uk. "Fred Sirieix leaves Galvin at Windows". bighospitality.co.uk. Retrieved 21 February 2020.
  6. ^ "Merlin Griffiths, The Priory Tavern". Cocktail Saturdays. Retrieved 17 February 2017.
  7. ^ "32 Things You Probably Didn't Know About "First Dates"". BuzzFeed.
  8. ^ "Episode Guide". Channel4. Retrieved 11 April 2017.
  9. ^ https://www.dplay.no/programmer/forste-date
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