Tonight's episode of First Dates featured a touching moment of vulnerability as one dater revealed that despite being on a date with a man, he wasn't out to his family at the time of filming.
Alex, 21, from Limerick was one of the romantic hopefuls on tonight's episode of First Dates, where the hardworking and clear-eyed fashion student was paired with confident and outgoing TEFL teacher Cillian, 22, from Dublin.
Sick of being ghosted, Alex told cameras he hadn't had the best luck in love, with his attempts fizzling out.
Originally from Latvia, Alex spoke about moving to Ireland when he was eight years old. "I feel like I'd be a completely different person if I stayed back in Latvia", he said, adding that living with his extended family could have made him more "restricted".
When asked whether he has any gay friends, Alex said he only had one. He then revealed that he wasn't completely out to his family at that time.
Speaking after the date, Alex told the cameras: "There's a lot in me. Like, there's sadness, there's excitement, there's a lot of emotions. It felt nice to talk about it, and him understanding me."
"Obviously, everyone says to you there is never a right moment, but I'm like, I can't find the moment to do it", he told Cillian, who understood immediately: "It just makes the whole gay experience so much more difficult."
"I don't know why I just swerved the conversation completely in that direction", Alex told producers. "We just stayed on that topic for a very long time. I guess it was maybe just a build up in me that [was] just like, 'breathe, breathe Alex. You need to let it out', kind of a thing."
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Cillian was quick to remind him how well he's doing, saying "you're still here". Although Alex felt he was "trauma dumping", Cillian was emphatically reassuring: "No, you're expressing your feelings and there's nothing wrong with that because how can you feel accepted for who you are? It's hard to feel connected to someone when they don't know you. You're gay, you know?
"You are gay and you know what? It's f****** fabulous and own it!"
The pair rounded out their date by toasting to "being gay and its struggles and everything else that comes with it".
Speaking after the date Cillian said, "I'm not going to lie, I found the start of the date kind of difficult because I was asking him questions and he wasn't asking much about me, but toward the end I realised he was very nervous and like, he had a lot on his mind that he wanted to say.
"It didn't go as expected but that's the way it was meant to happen and I'm happy to have been here for him."
While they didn't match romantically, the pair certainly found a connection and Alex gained a gay frend. And not only that, but Alex has since come out to his family.
