While we always love watching sparks fly over dinner and drinks in the First Dates restaurant and seeing that stolen kiss at the end of a date, we especially love it when a couple makes it official after the cameras stop rolling.
Even the most enthralling date can fizzle out after a few days – the same is true for any dater – whether due to differing lifestyles or schedules, a misstep or two or just not feeling it after that first buzzy date.
But for two lucky daters last night, those sparks carried them all the way to romantic Paris, as they made it official after wrapping up filming.
Are dad jokes the way to your heart or a certified dating faux pax? 🤣 #FirstDatesIRL continues Thursday at 9:30pm on RTÉ2 and @rteplayer pic.twitter.com/DqB8X37KfL
— RTÉ2 (@RTE2) February 2, 2022
Old-fashioned romantic Jay, 28, from Donegal knew he was going up against the odds trying to find a date like him in a world of Tinder hook-ups and multiple dating apps to peruse.
"I don't want to be in love, I want to be in love in a movie!" he tells the camera, adding: "I know where I'm going wrong. I wear my heart on my sleeve, which is great in the 1900s and way back when, but in 2021 ..."
"It's a good quality for the right person, so if I meet the right person it can be rainbows and fireworks and clouds."
For him, his two telltale signs of a good date are typically romantic: the first kiss and how you met. He's old-fashioned when it comes to humour too, coming to his date with "an endless supply of dad jokes" to weed out the weak from the strong.
Luckily for him, Alan, 28, from Monaghan, was grateful to hear any jokes, dad-like or not. For him, his main challenge has been meeting people in far-off Monaghan. His road to love has been particularly rocky, as he says he's been catfished twice.
With a seven-year relationship behind him, he's ready to meet someone with the same mindset to dating and life as him.
"Because I was in a seven-year relationship, I want my next one to be my last one", he frankly tells Jay. "It seems like we're both at the same stage, with what we want, what we're interested in", Jay says.
They both acknowledged they weren't the "stereotypical gay lad", and it doesn't take long to find plenty in common. Both work in caretaker roles, with Jay working for an ambulance company and Alan managing a children's care home.
The couple quickly got to talking about deeper parts of their lives, with Alan sharing that his mother had died by suicide when he was just 12. He entered the care system himself at 16 and lived with a foster family. "Life can be tough but I loved that, even though I was with another family, a foster family, they are my family now as well."
PLEASE TELL ME I'M NOT THE ONLY ONE LOSING MY MIND OVER JAY AND ALAN MAKING IT OFFICIAL!!! 🎉 👨❤️👨 ❤️ #FirstDatesIRL pic.twitter.com/DJ7tDbDleo
— RTÉ2 (@RTE2) February 3, 2022
As it happens, talk turned to travel, with both daters confessing they love adventures and getting lost. By the time they both said yes to another date, Jay's movie-worthy love story was well in progress and, as it happens, found a very cinematic plot twist.
The couple went on to make it official between them, cementing their epic love with a romantic trip to Paris!
Watch First Dates Thursdays at 9:30pm on RTÉ2.
