{"id":263116,"date":"2026-01-25T10:54:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:54:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263116\/"},"modified":"2026-01-25T10:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T10:54:09","slug":"self-confessed-cork-culchie-to-appear-on-first-episode-of-first-dates-ireland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/263116\/","title":{"rendered":"Self-confessed Cork ‘culchie’ to appear on first episode of First Dates Ireland"},"content":{"rendered":"

We all know Ireland can be a small place where everyone has a connection – but such familiarity can make the dating scene tricky to navigate.<\/p>\n

Cork car salesman and musician Diarmuid finds this out for himself in the first episode of a new series of First Dates Ireland on RT\u00c92 on Thursday at 9.35pm.<\/p>\n

Diarmuid, 21, a self-confessed \u2018culchie\u2019, embarks on a liaison in the famous restaurant with student teacher Shannon, also 21, from Limerick.<\/p>\n

The pair quickly realise that they have a host of mutual friends, and that Shannon even taught Diarmuid\u2019s brothers last year. Small world!<\/p>\n

This is the eleventh series of the popular show, and also featuring in the episode next week is single mother Boo, 32, who is emerging on the dating scene with renewed confidence after four years as a singleton.<\/p>\n

\"NeilNeil Kenna, Alice Marr, Mateo Saina, and Pete Ungless in First Dates Ireland<\/p>\n

She goes on a date with hyper-confident, self-confessed \u2018wreck the head\u2019 tattoo artist Lisa, 36, from Athy, and they both soon discover that hailing from Kildare isn\u2019t the only thing they share. Another example of Ireland\u2019s small world!<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, tired of commitment-phobes, marine biologist \u00c1ine, 31, from Clare, discovers a rare and exotic creature in the form of hyperactive junior doctor Keith, 34, of Dublin.<\/p>\n

Dating is not a young man or woman\u2019s game, of course, and also in First Dates Ireland, events organiser and disco dancing divorcee Margaret, 67, from Malahide, gets down (and down under) with semi-retired primary school teacher and film-maker Robin, 60, from Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n

The usual crew – Neil Kenna, Alice Marr, the host with the most Mateo Saina, and Pete Ungless – are all back in the kitchen and dining room for the latest series.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We all know Ireland can be a small place where everyone has a connection – but such familiarity…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,282],"class_list":["post-263116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}