The top 10 most embarrassing first date moments

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The course of true love never runs smoothly. This certainly rings true if the recent survey by Date With A Mate is anything to go by. Members of the site were asked to share some of their dating disasters and the stats that suggest that first date nerves are common place and can lead to some embarrassing situations. Whilst getting food stuck in teeth or nervously spilling a drink were among the most common faux-pas, saying something inappropriate or even calling your new beau the wrong name featured highly, suggesting that one too many glasses of Chardonnay may have been consumed. Here are two experiences of first date disasters.

The female perspective…

I was struggling to find my date in the Tapas restaurant we were meeting in and I was about to hightail it back to the taxi rank, when I made eye contact with my date. He was sitting in the very corner of the bar, glass of red in hand and gave me the nod that it was he! I felt quite on edge, but it was too late to bail, particularly in my heels. So in I went.

We moved to our table, which thankfully was next to the bar and away from the masses, ideal for first date conversation. We ordered calamari, olives, king prawns and a salad to share. We were two glasses of Rioja down and my date decided white wine would be good with the meal. He then told me that he had had ‘bad guts’ for the past few days. He did look as if he was in a slightly cold sweat and I asked him if he felt fine. He said yes and drank another glass of wine. The food arrived and we relaxed into conversation about work when he suddenly said he needed to get some air.

The next thing I saw him hunched over the fire exit door at the side of the restaurant, vomiting. The restaurant doors swung open and my date returned, no mention of the ‘incident’, telling me that he felt a whole lot better. When we parted compant at the taxi rank and he leant in for a kiss but I dodged him and fell into the back seat. As far as I remember he never did have that mint and I know the saying goes “You’ve got to kiss a lot of frogs to find your prince” but I draw the line at sick breath.

The male perspective…

I’d arranged a first date which involved both sets of friends… what could possible go wrong? As planned, I met a few mates up in Covent Garden after work. As the years slip by, so does the alcohol tolerance. By 8pm we were well oiled and in good spirits. My internet date rang to confirm she was in another place around the corner with friends, so we all met up. After a couple of hours of decent banter we decided to head to a rather cheesy nightclub and from where I was standing, all was going swimmingly well.

However, we had been in the club no longer than an hour when a commotion broke out behind me as I chatted to one of her friends. As I looked down, I saw my date sprawled out on the floor. I asked the bar staff to alert the bouncers, as all of our now merged party tried to get a response from the clearly distressed young lady. She came round pretty quickly and with the help of the club doormen, we got her outside and into the fresh air. I sat her down on the pavement and asked if she was alright to which she replied through tears, rather angrily: “Why aren’t you showing me any attention?”

I had a fair idea what that episode was all about. “Did you just collapse to get attention?” I enquired. Then she started crying as if I’d just sacked her from a dream job. As most blokes will testify, we’re no good in situations like this. I felt sorry for her but to me the whole thing smacked of total insanity! The only stroke of luck was that her friends were on hand to make sure she got home safely. Most disturbingly, she sent a text the following day hoping I’d enjoyed the evening and we should do it again sometime.

The top 10 most embarrassing first date moments:

1. Got food stuck in teeth – 17%

2. Bumped into an ex -15%

3. Spilled a drink on date – 14%

4. Said something inappropriate/ offensive – 12%

5. Was stood up – 9%

6. Called date by the wrong name – 8%

7. Walked out of the toilet with flies down/dress tucked into underwear- 7%

8. Wardrobe malfunction – 4%

9. Saw parents whilst on the date- 3%

10. Fell asleep whilst on the date – 2%

For more information visit www.DateWithaMate.com

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• Bloater

  Sean refers to you as “the guy”. Is this gender neutral? Franesca picks him up on this and you say they both understand you. I don’t get your point.

  So far the evidence you have is Sean’s, Francesca’s and now my post, plus a bunch of clicks on the (de)recommendarrow. You have no way of telling what reasons people had for clicking the arrows.

  You are making assumptions about other people’s assumptions.

• stonedwolf

  Hell is eternity with Baptists.

• plumplum

  It’s nothing whatsoever to do with their belief systems and all to do with their behaviour. Had you met any of the “full on” types, “Speaking in Tongues (gibberish) and believing in “Healing by Prayer” (giblets), you would understand.
  And I care little for being “PC”.. Nothing correct about politics or somebody telling me how I can or can not express myself…
  So no fluffy bunny prize for you..

• plumplum

  I am merely stating the obvious. From their comments, the two named posters at least READ my posting. Understand now?

• Bloater

  I read your first post and understood it. It’s the second one that I can’t work out.

  Explain to me again how you work out that “most assume you are male”. This seems to be based on one reply. I’m not a statistician but still….

• Blaggerr2011

  Cheque please!

  copy/paste and REMOVE [ ]

  http[:]//www[.]youtube[.]com/watch?v=hosPAi09gDc&feature=endscreen&NR=1

  http[:]//www[.]youtube[.]com/watch?v=8kbxA1_1_Sw&feature=related

• Michael Ernest Corby

  Two.

  The first, during the interval of a show I looked into her eyes, said, “Good heavens I never knew you wore contact lenses before”

  The second, after a very tough week, during les Miserables I fell asleep, bad enough but I was woken up by the noise on the stage, and being comely disorientated, and exclaimed, “What’s the noise – tell them to be quiet etc etc etc – lost of shushing noises.

  Neither lady ever spoke to me again.

• Never Giveup

  First, and only blind date I ever went on (arranged by my sister, who clearly hated me), was with a police officer, who was about mid-30’s to my early-20’s. I had to buy my own drink, but I was fine with that, even though it did seem a little unchivalrous. He proceeded to spend the whole date telling me about the love he had for his dog, and that his plans for the future were to get married, then move to a remote location in Wales, where nobody else was around to be with the dog and new wife. Had he looked like Brad Pitt it might have seemed an attractive prospect, but he looked like an ugly version of Chief Wiggum from the Simpsons. The warning signs had been there, when my sister asked if looks/being slim were a big issue with a prospective date? I excused myself after an hour and a half, and drove immediately to my sister’s house to ask her what on earth she was thinking!

  Second date was with someone I’d made friends with via an online forum, but who had grown up in my local town at the same time as me, and we’d both moved away as young adults, although we’d never met before, we had this connection. We were both due to be back in our hometown at the same time, and arranged to meet up. It was a disaster! He hadn’t mentioned that the image he’d sent to me was 15 years out of date, and that he no longer had hair or looks! He also forgot to mention he was 5′ 1″. Whilst a nice enough fella, he was not date/relationship material, which made for an awkward meeting. Even more awkward was his text during my journey home when he proposed marriage!! We didn’t meet up again.