{"id":264747,"date":"2026-01-26T13:50:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T13:50:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/264747\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T13:50:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T13:50:11","slug":"former-x-factor-contestant-to-appear-as-first-dates-ireland-returns-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/264747\/","title":{"rendered":"Former X Factor contestant to appear as First Dates Ireland returns"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>        <a href=\"https:\/\/www.live95fm.ie\/news\/entertainment\/\" class=\"c-btn c-btn--small c-btn--secondary-fill\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>        All Onic Entertainment<br \/>\n    <\/a><\/p>\n<p>                <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aiir-c-news-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/69775b7d53f56.jpg\" alt=\"\"\/><br \/>\n                                    (RTE)<\/p>\n<p class=\"aiir-c-news-article__abstract\">\n            It&#8217;s finally coming back to our TV screens this week!\n        <\/p>\n<p><p data-end=\"304\" data-start=\"136\">First Dates Ireland is set to return to TV screens nationwide on Thursday, January 29th, with a former X Factor contestant among the latest group of hopeful singletons.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"437\" data-start=\"306\">The popular dating show is back for its 11th season and will introduce a fresh lineup of singles searching for their perfect match.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"742\" data-start=\"439\">This season will include former The X Factor finalist Mary Byrne, who hopes to remain unrecognised during her time on the show.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"742\" data-start=\"439\" style=\"text-align: center;\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/69775c0738307.jpg\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p data-end=\"742\" data-start=\"439\">(Getty)<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"742\" data-start=\"439\">In the opening episode, viewers will also meet Shannon from Limerick and fellow \u2018culchie\u2019 Diarmuid from Cork, along with familiar First Dates faces Boo and tattoo artist Lisa.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"960\" data-start=\"744\">Marine biologist \u00c1ine will be paired with junior doctor Keith, while events organiser and disco-dancing divorcee Margaret will go on a date with semi-retired primary school teacher and filmmaker Robin from Melbourne.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1071\" data-start=\"962\">Guiding diners through their dates will be Maitre D\u2019 Mateo, servers Alice and Pete, with Neil behind the bar.<\/p>\n<p data-end=\"1162\" data-is-last-node=\"\" data-is-only-node=\"\" data-start=\"1073\">First Dates Ireland will air on Thursday, January 29th, at 9:35pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/68da98f76f434.png\" style=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u00a0\n<\/p>\n<p>\n  \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"All Onic Entertainment (RTE) It&#8217;s finally coming back to our TV screens this week! First Dates Ireland is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":264748,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,608,611,607,610,609,612,43],"class_list":["post-264747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-limerick-radio","tag-limerick-today","tag-limericks-live95fm","tag-live-95","tag-live95fm","tag-live95fm-homepage","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264747","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=264747"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/264747\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/264748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=264747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=264747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}