A WINSFORD divorcee had a mixed experience filming for a Channel 4 dating show that his daughter secretly volunteered him for.

Alan Bailey had no idea that 20-year-old Alice had applied for him to go on Channel 4’s First Dates while staying with her grandmother in Nottingham.

And the 49-year-old divorcee didn’t think her matchmaking skills would amount to anything when he found out.

“I didn’t think I would get picked. I didn’t think anybody would be interested,” said the Wingfield Place resident, who was surprised when producers, Twenty Twenty, got in touch.

He found himself within the grounds of St Paul’s Cathedral, London in January, waiting to meet a 53-year-old woman from Brentford.

“It was all very Big Brother, said Alan. “You don’t see any cameras or crew. You get a picture of your date with their first name, age and what county they come from.

“You’re miked up as you go in and there are secret cameras everywhere to see your initial reaction. “They want to see the interaction between two people, and see if there’s a spark.

“It’s like being a secret agent, or on the Truman Show. They’ll be walking alongside you, talking to you, and they’ll suddenly shoot off down a passageway.

“Sometimes, you’ll open a door and there will be a camera crew there behind it. It was so surreal.”

Unhelpfully for the producers, the bells of St Paul’s began ringing a short way into filming, delaying Alan’s date.

“By the time I got in there she said: ‘you’re late, I can’t hang around long because I’m off to a party’. Well, I didn’t expect that curve ball!” said Alan, who watched his first date disappear out the restaurant pursued by a film crew.

Alan admitted not knowing what to expect from his second matchup: a 42-year-old former Miss Bikini Body Builder champion from Essex.

“She looked absolutely amazing, but kept listing the ailments she had,” said Alan. “It crashed and burned within ten minutes and the camera stopped rolling.

“I was thinking: ‘All this money they’ve spent and Channel 4 still haven’t fixed me up!”

Despite this, Alan holds no grudges against Alice playing cupid. He’s waiting to hear when Channel 4 will broadcast his dates, and is still hopeful of finding Mrs right.

“It’s been a positive experience, even thought the two dates weren’t exactly brilliant, I’ve been on a buzz ever since. It was really good fun.”

First Dates is broadcast at 10pm on Wednesdays.