You know the mums who chastise their single (adult) children whenever they see them, asking why he/she hasn’t found a partner to settle down and pop out offspring with? Well, that’s what we saw on tonight’s installment of the cringe-worthy reality dating show that is First Dates Australia.
In tonight’s episode, we met 25-year-old speech pathologist Rochelle who’s mum Reena is basically the third person in all her relationships (we’re surprised she didn’t come along to the date, to be honest).
“My mum gets so involved because she’s very protective of me and wants to make sure I end up with the right guy. She really wants me to settle down, get married and have a few grandkids for her,” Rochelle confessed to TV WEEK.
“She is also the dominant matriarch of our family and therefore seems to be involved in every part of my life, which includes dating!”
Eeek.
Rochelle is feeling the pressure from her mum to settle down.
Reena has been known to embarrass her daughter and intimidate her love interests.
“One of the most embarrassing things she has done is show photos of her cooking to one of my boyfriends,” she said. “I think she was trying to impress him!”
Oh, and Reena likes to show her daughter’s boyfriends who’s boss in an unusual manner.
“She has been known to show off her machete which she inherited from a family member,” Rochelle tells TV WEEK. “She is naturally very protective and I guess this is her way of showing it.”
A MACHETE?!
Meet Reggie
“I remember her driving by as I would walk home from school and telling me to stop talking to boys when I was in year 7.”
So, is insurance assessor Reggie, 31, going to be the one to please Reena and marry her daughter? As long as he doesn’t have a fear of machetes, he should be fine.
Rochelle, who is half-Fijian and half-Australian, and Reggie got on like a house on fire on their blind date tonight, so much so that he cheekily called Reena to tell her he was proposing!
“She was shocked!,” Rochelle says of her mum’s reaction to the surprise phone call. “I think she might have said no as she needed to complete her own analysis of him. She often says the guys I date aren’t good enough. She has high standards!”
But sadly, it wasn’t to be. At the end of the episode, it was revealed that Reggie and Rochelle’s second date didn’t actually happen. Rochelle has moved on and found a new man! (One that we’re sure Reena approves of.)
