A 20-YEAR-old media student from Athy stole the hearts of the nation when she went on her first ever date on national TV!
Lauren Dempsey confessed that she had never ever been on a date when she met her beau, Paddy Murphy for the first time on First dates Ireland. She and Paddy, who confessed to also being a novice at the dating game, too, had the entire nation rooting for them when they featured as the first couple in the new season of the popular show.
“There was a huge reaction to Lauren and Paddy. They were the two daters who really captured the nation. Everyone loved them,” Melanie O’Connor from RTÉ said. Social media erupted during the show with people tweeting about how much they adored the two debutants looking for love.
Lauren Dempsey from Athy stole the hearts of viewers when she appeared on the television programme, First Dates Ireland
Lauren, who is a student at Carlow IT, is the daughter of Elaine and Joe. She was one of just a handful of people to be selected from the 5,000 hopefuls who wanted to find ever-elusive love on First Dates Ireland.
“I didn’t have butterflies, only in my stomach, I even had them in my toes! Lauren told the Kildare Nationalist. “At first I was so nervous about being on camera but after a while, I just forgot about them and just talked to Paddy.”
The would-be love birds hit it off straight away with the canny Paddy managing to guess Lauren’s favourite television programme, favourite singer and even her favourite crisp!
“I was genuinely shocked when he guessed all of that. People thought that it might have been set up but it was real. Paddy’s favourite crisp is Monster Munch, too.”
It wasn’t long into the date when the pair opened up to each other, with both revealing that they’d lost a younger sibling.
Lauren, who hails from Athy, lost her sister Gillian eight years ago to Cystic Fibrosis. Lauren, who also suffers from the condition, bravely bared her soul about how much her beloved sister meant to her.
“I cried when I first told the producers about Gillian but I really didn’t want to cry on television. I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me,” Lauren said. “When she died it was very, very hard because she was my best friend. I went into myself a bit more.”
She said that after Gillian’s death, she became determined that she wouldn’t let Cystic Fibrosis rule her life and she promised to live it to the full.
When Paddy disclosed that he, too, had lost a sibling, the pair looked like they had made a real connection with each other.
When it came to the crunch time at the end of their date together, Paddy said without hesitation that he would like to see Lauren for a second date.
Unfortunately, he had to wait a while for that opportunity because Lauren fell ill after the filming of the show and had to be hospitalised. The two love birds have since had a second date when they went to Dublin Zoo and have met for a third time.
So, has Cupid’s arrow finally hit her?
“We’re good friends and we’ll see how it goes!” she laughed.
And as for her experience on First Date Ireland, she said that she would recommend it to anyone.
“Oh my God, it was one of the greatest experiences of my life. You think it’s going to be scary but, in fact, it’s just great craic!” she laughed.
