Fans of First Dates were hit with the hero of the series as autistic Ketan melted the hearts of a nation.
The bad joke enthusiast showed true and pure emotion on his date, expressing that his autism had shackled him from dating success in the past.
Here’s a guy who rocked up to the First Dates restaurant six hours prior to the date, just to scope out the venue.
Legend…
Man With a Plan
The 31-year-old data analyst headed over to Paternoster Chop House to scout out the restaurant before the big day.
Ketan ran through how the date may unfold with Fred Sirieix, asking questions like “is this how it’s going to look on the day”.
He even created a list of positives and negatives about dating him, citing positives as “stronger, quicker, smarter” and “can do the night shift with the kids” as he will be awake anyway.
Negatives, however…
Yeah, I wouldn’t go busting out that list on the first date, Ketan.
First Dates: Take Two
Fully prepared with his map of the dining area, awareness of the three fire exits and understanding that it takes 24.3 seconds to get to the bathroom, Ketan was ready to head into his date.
Of course, this wasn’t before he had practised his party trick on a very bewildered Merlin…
https://twitter.com/mattwalker1809/status/994324734379782145
Yeah, I wouldn’t go busting out that party trick on the first date, Ketan.
Ketan’s date, 32-year-old Brodie, confessed that she wanted a man with a few “quirks” to match up with her “quirks”.
Cue a very quirky date…
And for anyone wondering what that looks like…
Merlin tucked himself behind the bar with his palm firmly pressed against his face as Ketan decided to steam ahead with his ‘face-reading’ party trick, this team on date Brodie.
Literally, pray for Ketan…
https://twitter.com/The_Onge/status/994324341868453889
To the Dinner Table
At dinner, Ketan dived straight in with an order of lobster – presumably because he had already read the menu nine times – before filling the time with a couple of cheesy jokes.
Look at that grin!
The conversation fell a little flat, however, with Brodie unable and unwilling to tell any of her own jokes.
Come on, how can you leave adorable Ketan hanging like this…
Heart-wrenching Interval
Ketan explained that he never goes “out of his way” to tell dates that he has autism and shared a heart-wrenching story on how his mother reacted when he first broke the news to her.
His mum remained quiet, said nothing, and simply walked out of the room.
First Dates: Take Three?
The date ended in slightly obscure style, with Ketan admitting that he had forgotten all of his cards, and instead entering the digits of his debit card off by heart.
In the final piece to camera, Brodie was full of compliments for her date although she admitted that there “wasn’t any chemistry” and that a second date was not on the cards.
And for Ketan, well, he was still cheesed off that his date didn’t have any jokes to bring to the table…
WATCH First Dates every Wednesday, on Channel 4, at 10 pm.