Dating shows are my guilty pleasure and not because I find them romantic, I really don’t. What fascinates and engages me is the way the contestants and wannabe’s react on each episode giving us, the viewers an idea of what we must look like in similar situations. ITV1’s Dinner Date is my particular favourite with the idea that a man’s taste buds are the way to his heart with each astronomical flavour like an arrow pointing to his ticker!

The concept is simple; a man reads five menus and then chooses the three that make his mouth salivate. He then visits these culinary masters for a taste of their menu, his favourite will then have the pleasure of going out on a date with him…she won’t have to cook this time. It’s all very light-hearted but on a deeper level teaches us more about how men and women behave in awkward and alien situations.

I’ve deduced that the three courses are rather like the dates he is about to experience:

The Starter: She’s confident from the moment she opens the door and he feels right at home!

The Main: The conversation flows but they run out of time…it’s only on for 45 minutes!

The Desert: Anything can happen after a Fruity Trifle laced with Rum!

The starter usually gets the green light from the man setting aside all rumours that fellas are only after one thing. Sure they have a flirt with the trifle queen and enjoy the non-committed banter with the main but the one that starts well seems to finish well suiting their pallet.

But as with all well thought out meals disasters in the kitchen can happen and when a man sits at the dinner table thinking chicken is on the menu imagine his libido squashed as its replacement is macaroni cheese! You can consider yourself well and truly dumped and how you are kicked to the curb is most embarrassing.

The three master chefs get dolled up and wait for the knock on the door in the hope for a meal out somewhere posh. For the two losers the knock is fatal as your neighbours will see you open the door to a microwave meal for one and a bottle of Chablis…also for one.

Two months later they are still single, three months later they are on Take Me Out, four months later they are on Come Dine With Me and when all that fails there’s always Countdown. Is it love they’re after or just some air time?