First Dates Australia is back, and we can’t help but watch as strangers make small talk and eat dinner together in the hope that love blossoms.
The show had a four-year hiatus but has come back with a bang, with one of the first episodes sparking controversy when male model Tyler questioned why his date, Kristal, hadn’t found a partner yet. In his mind, it was because she wanted to keep working as a nurse and was uninterested in stopping her career after getting hitched. Yep, you can’t make this up.
And the questionable first date behaviour has continued, with 36-year-old health guru Kylie asking her date Jason outright about his sexual partners, making everyone, including Jason and us at home, very uncomfortable.
Kylie is worried about her date’s… ‘hygiene’
Kylie and her date initially hit it off when they first met at the bar after having a lot in common, with both enjoying exercise and being non-drinkers.
However, once the conversation continued over dinner, Kylie shared that she had only ever dated and been intimate with one person. She then asked Jason a very direct question about his body count.
“How many people have you been with?” she asked point-blank.
After overcoming his initial shock at being asked the question, Jason recovered and confirmed he had “definitely been with more than one” sexual partner, before admitting he didn’t know the exact number of people he’d been intimate with.
“Wow, so it’s that large that you don’t know the number?” Kylie responded, noting that it was “scary” he couldn’t share an exact figure.
Despite not pressing the matter much further on the date with Jason, she later told producers that the date “lost all appeal” since her date had “been around the block”.
“I just don’t think it’s hygienic,” she said.
“I’m definitely looking for a one-woman man, because if someone were to have herpes or something, that would be my biggest fear.”
First Dates viewers react to the question
First Dates viewers have since taken to social media to slam Kylie’s question and her mentality around sexual partners, saying the show wouldn’t have tolerated this stance if a man held the views or had said the same to a woman.
“[This is a] big red flag to even ask that question! And then to pass judgment and try to shame him,” one viewer said online.
“What an unbelievably inappropriate, immature and disrespectful question, and reaction. Of course, he’s had other partners and kudos to him for viewing them as private past experiences, not notches on a belt to be tallied up and then judged on,” another said.
“So strange to ask that question if he had asked her the same question I’m sure she’d be horrified,” a third noted.
While a handful of viewers admitted they wouldn’t want to be with someone who didn’t know their ‘number’, the consensus was that it’s to be expected that adults in their 30s have had multiple partners and the question about body count “should never be asked on the first date”.
Kylie and Jason decided it was best they didn’t have a second date, with one viewer saying he “dodged a bullet”.
First Dates continues to platform harmful views to large audiences
Now, I know First Dates is in the business of making good television, but the show thus far has made it clear it’s going to platform some pretty harmful views since its comeback, and has been looking a little too similar to its reality TV counterparts like Married At First Sight.
To me, the idea of someone not knowing their exact body count — meaning that they’re ‘unhygienic’ or have been “around the block” — feels like a wildly high school mentality.
I don’t think we need any more shame pushed into a conversation about sex and dating, and it would definitely be a red flag to me.
Also, the flippant comment kept in by producers about herpes just feels random, unnecessary, and furthers stigma about STIs.
But then I have to admit, maybe the show isn’t platforming poor dating behaviour, but just simply showing what is out there in the dating world… and it sure is looking grim.
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