First Dates Australia is back! The hilarious reality show returned last night for its third season, setting people up on blind dates and documenting every awkward and romantic moment. The first episode introduced four potential couples – Karen and Abdul, Ed and Jennifer, Jasmine and Ryan, and Jake and Rebecca. Here we rank each date from good to really bad.
Jennifer and Ed
You’ve got self-confessed romantic Jennifer, 32, and English larrikin Ed, 33, who calls himself a big puppy dog deep down. What could go wrong?
Jen is cute as a button
The banter between these two is at a high right from the first moment they meet.
Get a man that looks at you the way Ed looks at Jen
The entire date goes smoothly; they seem to be really into each other. I mean, it mostly consists of the two of them giggling like five-year-olds but we can honestly see ourselves at their wedding.
Jen didn’t even seem to mind that he ate a potato off the floor, so there was no surprise the two agreed to a second date.
Jake and Rebecca
This date is the most heart-warming of them all. Truck driver Jake, 30, is looking for someone who can accept his life on the road – AND his mullet/moe combination.
Jake is a softie at heart
Personality is key for him. “Looks fade, personality doesn’t,” he says. Excellent answer, Jake.
After he meets his lady, 29-year-old farm hand Rebecca, things get awkward real fast. They say the words ‘righto’ and ‘yep’ about 100 times in approximately 6.5 seconds, so their convo banter is non-existant at this point. Thank god for the drinks!
Farm hand Bec seems like the right match for Jake
As the pair sit at the table, they warm up a bit – mostly because they can both agree that they’re way out of their comfort zones in a fancy inner-city restaurant. They love to go bush! They’re not used to being in the city!
It’s soon clear that Jake has found the girl for him – Bec likes steak and chicken parmas, and called broccoli ‘healthy sh*t’.
Jake calls his mate in the bathroom to tell him Bec’s one of the good ones (he’s totally imagining them getting married right now), but he’s worried she’ll turn him down.
This date was all kinds of adorable
“It’s hard to put yourself out there and get hurt,” he says. We’re not crying, you are.
They both agree to a second date and seal it with a kiss!
Jake goes in for the kill
Jasmine and Ryan
Here we meet 24-year-old Jasmine, AKA Princess Jasmine. But she’s quick to tell you that she’s only got “the front of a princess” and that she’s actually chill. She then repeats that she’s chill 10 more times. Because she’s chill, you know? And cool, don’t forget cool.
Jasmine is so ‘chill’
Her lucky date is 27-year-old supplement salesman, Ryan. At first there’s an awkward misunderstanding of the words barrel and Bowral, but they soon find a common ground – gyms. “How many gyms do you go to?” she asks.
Ryan’s just happy to be on a date
This date definitely has the most forehead-slap/eye-roll moments, like when they discuss broccoli, literature (but not really), audio books and regrets. Her regret? Not going to a Justin Timberlake concert. She genuinely looks so distraught by the memory of it that he tries to hide his laugh by saying, “Sorry, you’re so entertaining.” Smooth save.
Ryan has met the perfect girl for him
By the end of the date, Ryan is a smitten kitten. Jasmine doesn’t seem like she’s vibing it, but ends up agreeing to a second date, saying that they’re “the same smart”.
Karen and Abdul
Karen, 46, has the self-confessed, ahem, ‘assets’. She loves “the finer things in life” and can imagine herself sitting poolside in a mansion or ducking out to the shops in a Lamborghini. So, is real-estate entrepreneur Abdul, 51, going to provide that life for her?
Karen likes to show off her ‘assets’
First off the bat, he looks a little underwhelmed by Karen and immediately looks to get them seated at the table. She’s undeterred though and presses him on what he does for a living and what car he drives (she’s totally fishing to see how wealthy he is).
It’s clear Abdul wanted the date to be over asap
When Abdul tells her he’s looking to upgrade his car to a Mercedes, this is Karen’s face.
Oh yeah, Karen is imagining sitting in that Mercedes
Their conversation steers to fitness, where Karen tells Abdul she bought a ‘wobble board’ so she could watch Home And Away at the same time. She tells him she gets on there naked, to which he replies it’s an image he doesn’t want to see. OUCH.
The date goes from bad to worse when he ditches the idea of dessert and goes straight for the bill. She’s rightly devastated about missing the sweets.
So. Uncomfortable.
So, will there be a second date? Abdul says no before the question is finished being asked. Buh-bye, Abdul.
