A gay cruise, a fortune teller and a six-year-long situationship: tonight's episode of First Dates had it all.
Season 11 of the beloved dating series continued tonight with eight hopeful romantics taking their seats at the Gibson Hotel, looking for love, romance, connection and at the very least a nice meal.
Back for seconds, Doyle, 30, from Dublin returned to the First Dates restaurant after a successful date in a past season. Despite telling the cameras that he's in his "closed legs era", Doyle said he was still looking for someone special. "I'm very much more into get to know me, let's go to church together. I want to be courted and I also want to court."
Looking for someone just as 'hot as himself’, Doyle was paired with charismatic Brazilian marketing executive Enisio, 36, from Dublin – fresh from a week-long gay cruise.
The pair instantly hit it off, with Enisio telling Doyle: "I'm glad that you're Black because I love Black people. Seriously, if I have to choose between 10 white guys and one Black guy, I'd go for one Black guy because I love Black [guys]."
Diving into his relationship with his own identity, the first of many heartfelt reflections on his journey to self-love, he said: "Growing up in Brazil, Brazil is so racist, and I always wanted to be white; that was my dream.
"Growing up as a Black person and a queer person in Brazil was very hard. All I knew as a gay man was sex because we never experienced love. Like, I'd never seen a couple when I was a kid. Now it is different because we have people who represent ourselves but love was my mom and my dad.
"It took me 34 years to love myself."
It was something that Doyle could relate to, as he told producers: "Growing up gay can be an extremely lonely experience."
The pair spoke about everything from Doyle's six-year-long situationship and Enisio's ex-husband, to settling down in Ireland. For Enisio, the move was a "life-changing" one, and one that came via a fortune teller who told him he'd move abroad to a place he had never visited before.
"Ireland chose me", he told Doyle. "And if you write my name backwards and take [away] e, it's Oisin. I'm meant to be here!"
Unsurprisingly, when producers asked if they'd like to meet for a second date it was an immediate 'yes' from both.
Watch First Dates Ireland on Thursdays at 9.35pm on RTÉ2 or catch up on RTÉ Player.
