That went well
It’s the hit show that’s charmed viewers in their droves. Now get ready for First Dates’ most heartwarming encounter yet
FIRST Dates Ireland is no stranger to unforgettable characters. Yet this Tuesday, a 27-year-old Dublin nurse is poised to make a truly lasting impression on viewers of the hit RTÉ series.
Fans will see Tara McCormack take a tentative step back into the dating scene with Laois man Eoin Scully after she lost her partner, Paul Cusack, to sudden adult death syndrome in 2012.
Further compounding the sense of tragedy, Tara and Paul had lost their daughter Katie during Tara’s pregnancy just a few months previously.
‘I don’t think I was as nervous about [being in front of the cameras] … a stiff Sauvignon sorted that out,’ Tara said ahead of the show’s screening.
‘But a lot of the nerves came about because I haven’t dated seriously since Paul died. I’d felt like if I opened myself up to the possibility of finding love again, it felt like I was somehow letting him down. I’d had one or two dates before this one, and in a way, there is a sense of moving on,’ she adds.
‘But when I say, “move on”, it’s not that I’m forgeting Paul or leaving him behind. I have to accept that I’ll have days where I will say to someone, “You’re nothing like Paul”.’
Some months before Paul died, Tara had had a fateful conversation with her partner when she herself was admitted to intensive care at St Vincent’s Hospital.
‘When I came off the ventilator, I was sort of messing, but I said, “If anything does ever happen, I want you to be happy”.
‘I automatically thought because I had been unwell, I would be the first to go. When Paul died, that was my main thought – “I’m supposed to be gone, not him”.’ Paul and Tara first met at a fitness bootcamp, and became firm friends. ‘I remember the first time I met him: there was no magic about it, but he was such a nice, bubbly guy,’ recalls Tara. ‘We were together for almost two years. Even as friends, I thought, “you’re my person”.’ The day that Paul suddenly died, in November 2012, started like any other for the couple, who were living in Kiltipper, in southwest Dublin. ‘I’ve blocked a lot of that day out, to be honest,’ admits Tara. ‘My mum brought me to the doctor in the weeks after he died, and I don’t remember that.’ Tara began running as a way to cope with the devastation of Paul’s death. ‘When I did the Dublin City Marathon in 2013, I got to the finish line – and I don’t remember this – but apparently the first thing I said was “where’s Paul?” I must have believed that doing the marathon could have brought him back. My grieving didn’t really start until that day in October 2013.’
Since then, Tara has run 30 marathons, and embarked on two degrees at Trinity College. They are, she admits, bittersweet feats. ‘(Paul) is missing out on these big moments,’ she admits. ‘As much as I love it, I also hate it too, because me and Paul had a plan, and that plan is gone.’
While working hospital shifts, Tara enjoyed watching the first series of First Dates Ireland with her housemate, and at her pal’s behest, she decided to send an application in to Coco Television ‘for the craic’.
‘When they called after a couple of months, I genuinely thought it was a prank call,’ says Tara.
Meanwhile, as viewers will see, Eoin will speak about how the death of a friend inspired him to go travelling – but while he was in Vancouver, where he had settled, an old girlfriend went to his home with the son he never knew he had.
Viewers will have to tune in to see whether there was any chemistry with Eoin, but of the TV date, Tara recalls: ‘I remember as I was walking up to the hotel thinking, “don’t fall”. And also, “there’s a taxi rank over there”. But once I was inside and had a glass of wine with a friend of mine, who was also going on a date, I thought, “this is super”. And then, “what’s the worst that can happen here?”’
‘I hadn’t dated seriously since Paul died’
news@mailonsunday.ie First Dates is on Tuesdays, RTÉ 2 at 9.30pm