At the centre of it all was Jimmy, a Wicklow man whose date began with nerves and a rose – and unfolded into a powerful conversation about mental health.
Jimmy arrives all charm and jitters, holding one rose, only to find not one woman waiting for him, but twin sisters Gigi and Edgy from Meath.
“I’m on a date with two… holy smokes,” he blurts, looking terrified.
He recovers quickly, even complimenting them both: “You look great, the two of you.”
But when the twins reveal that another man is coming to date the second sister, Jimmy tries bravado.
Behind the scenes he tells producers that he is a confident person, backed up by his entry to the interview where he stripped off his shirt to reveal tattoos on his torso and performed some questionable dance moves.
The Alpine realtor says he’s looking for “someone who gets me”. “A lot of girls – you wouldn’t blame them – are like, ‘You’re really weird’.”
But when he sits down with Gigi, the tone softens in a way no one expects.
As Gigi bats away questions about what her usual type is, she admits she’s made mistakes in relationships before and doesn’t want to make the same ones.
“Sometimes people put a lot of pressure on their partners in such a way you become the entirety of that persons world,” she says. “If I just pull that plug all of a sudden that person’s world comes tumbling down.”
This has happened to Jimmy.
“I used to just fall so quick, so hard and lose myself, and then as soon as that relationship ended it was like the whole world was destroyed,” he said.
Over dinner, Jimmy shares the story he wasn’t always able to tell.
He talks about growing up with a father in the SAS, a childhood spent moving constantly, and years where he felt like he didn’t belong anywhere – including in his own skin. He was born in Zimbabwe and moved to Paris in France when he was around three years old.
French became his first language, so when he moved to Ireland, he couldn’t speak English – although Gigi finds out he now doesn’t remember any French.
On their date, he tells Gigi that he’s had a “rough enough life” and that when he was coming to the end of his teenage years he was “like a volcano”. “Once I had started drinking, I just fell in love instantly because it suppressed everything.”
Speaking to producers he opened up further about how he used alcohol and love to escape with devastating effects.
“My world was never good enough, so when someone came into my world it became this new world,” he says.
“It was like everything for me, but I wasn’t a good boyfriend at all. I was drinking terribly, so I was cheating, and I’m not putting that as an excuse, but that was my real issue.
“I’ve never felt comfortable in this world, never felt comfortable in my skin, I’ve never actually wanted to be here. I wanted to escape the way I felt and that was drugs, alchol and gambling. It brought me down some dark, dark roads.”
Friends and his mum used to fear the worst.
Then in 2021, he received a treatment that changed everything:
“It was like someone pulled a sheet off my face. Everything was bright. For the first time, I actually wanted to live.”
Today, he’s sober, steady, and in a 12‑step programme, which Gigi says she gets.
Gigi – a dental nurse and singer – is clearly moved.
“He has a lovely smile,” she admits later. “It felt so comfortable from the beginning.”
And yes, she does fancy him.
Gigi and Edgy are non‑identical twins, who have been each other’s best friends forever.
“We go way back,” says Edgy.
“Like, I mean, womb days,” adds Gigi.
“She’s my first ever flat mate,” Edgy jokes.
The pair describe recognising each other’s thoughts instantly. “We just glance at each other and say, I know what you were thinking about this situation.”
It’s been that connection that has gotten them through their own bad times, particularly through music.
They perform together as a pop duo with Edgy rapping and Gigi singing.
“In Lithuania we had a good time growing up,” says Gigi. “We always had each other. Not everyone has a built-in best friend.”
Edgy adds: “We were very energetic children. Out parents sent us to every possible thing: theatre, choir, dancing. When we moved to Ireland there wasn’t a lot of that because we moved to a very small town.”
They moved to Ireland when they were 11, but soon afterwards, their parents broke up and their dad moved to Lithuania. He died when they were 17.
Over dinner with Craig, Edgy explains that her lack of relationship with her dad has affected how she sees relationships with men for herself.
“I would like to be with someone who I have a good foundation with,” she says. “Dad was a lorry driver, so I grew up with inconsistent male energy. He’d go away for a month or two and only be back for a day or two before leaving again.”
Craig, a plumber from Wexford, is now a dad of a 13‑year‑old, and says he thinks his son is his biggest support. He also grew up without a father in the home.
His dad moved to Kildare when he was young, but they got back in contact when he was 18.
“It’s hard to gain a relationship with someone you don’t really know,” he says.
Back to dinner and Craig dives gamely into oysters for the first time.
“Why did you order them if you thought it would be bad?” Edgy laughs.
“For the craic,” he shrugs.
They share chips later though and it’s clear he would share anything with Edgy.
Both couples say yes to second dates.
Jimmy and Gigi seal it with a kiss.
Craig plans “a nice walk” with Edgy, while Jimmy is thinking of sharing a round of golf with Gigi, perhaps in the runners he had custom made for ‘First Dates Ireland’, with little hearts on the back.
All four later head out for a game of pool, where the crew is warned: Gigi is very competitive. There is genuine fear of a fallout.
Sadly, the post-script says that Jimmy and Gigi are no longer together, but Edgy and Craig did go on another date.