First Dates contestant Sarah has spoken about the negative reaction she received online since appearing on the show, saying she "found it shocking" that people even talked about it.
Aspiring author Sarah and her date Brian attracted a lot of comments, many negative, on Twitter after their date aired on the show, with most of the comments focussing on the pair's over-bearing confidence and rather cringeworthy exchanges.
At one stage, a clearly inebriated Sarah was seen stealing a glass of wine from an adjoining table, which didn't exactly endear her to many viewers. Her weird love of cherry chewing gum so her exes will remember her by it, also drew plenty of comment on social media.
Speaking to 2FM's Eoghan McDermott today, Sarah spoke about the audience reaction, saying "For me I went on the show thinking my friends were going to take the piss out of me for this, and I didn't think about the wider audience, so I found it shocking that people even talked about it.
"I think it's just you go on TV and you get scrutinised and that's just how it is, I probably have done it to people, it's just a natural thing for people, it's the internet world."
Sarah said that she "didn't remember that much" from the date as she was "a little worse for wear" and said that her confident nature meant she was a target for viewers.
"You never know how people are going to perceive you," she said, "It's so unforgiving to be a confident woman and I don't understand why. I think sometimes people would rather you be a shrinking violet, you know, 'She's a lovely girl with her lovely blouse', I don't get it!"
Sarah also spoke about her first book which aims to put a spotlight on mental health in Ireland.
"I'm so passionate about mental health and I really want young men to get the support that they deserve", she said. "It just breaks my heart that in Ireland I've seen so many young men who are so talented and so exceptional and they just don't get the support that they need. So it'd be my dream to put attention onto that."
