‘Five guys moved in with me’
Eight years after losing the love of her life, Susan, 68, decided to find love again – and signed up for a fascinating TV experiment. Here’s her story…
It’s an intriguing idea: opening not only your heart but your home to find your potential soulmate. But that’s exactly what women have been doing for Channel 4’s new TV show Five Guys A
Week. After all, you never really know someone until you’ve lived with them.
And as the title might suggest – it isn’t just one potential love match that moves in for a week, but five!
This week sees 68-year-old Susan – who has been single for some time – allowing five strangers to move in with her to see if any of them make good potential suitors.
Before the guests arrive, she’s asked what she thinks will be the biggest challenge for her during the process – and replies, with a giggle: ‘Staying awake!’
Retiree Susan, from Beverley, East Yorkshire, is a strong, lively and caring woman who was widowed eight years ago, having wed her sweetheart Russell when she was 35.
They were extremely happy, and he was the love of her life.
Now, though, she says she is ‘ready to move on and hopefully find love again’.
What else inspired her to take part? ‘I thought about it seriously, of course, as people my age don’t usually go on dating shows, they seem like they are for younger people, but older ladies need loving too,’ Susan says. ‘I thought it was a fabulous opportunity and I took it.’
She tells the viewer that she doesn’t think of herself as old and she doesn’t act old. She certainly doesn’t look it, either. ‘I want to find someone to love me and love back,’ she says with honest vulnerability.
Cue the prospective suitors… Like Susan, we’re introduced to each participant one-by-one as they arrive at her four-bed cottage. First to knock on her door is Gavin, a 67-year-old musician, followed by Cez, 62 – a former car salesman who has two grown-up daughters and three grandchildren.
The third perspective suitor is an ex vegan café owner, Theo, also 62, who has been through an amicable divorce and is a
very spiritual person ( he later talks about tantric sex!).
Adrian who, at 60, is the youngest of Susan’s new housemates, lives in an over-50s community and is described by his daughter as ‘metrosexual’.
The final guest to arrive is restaurant owner, Tasos.
‘ Women fall in love with me quite quickly,’ the 64-year-old says confidently – or should that be cockily? – before entering the house.
Once all the men have arrived and settled, they have tea and cake with Susan to get to know each other a little better. The suitors are jolly, if a little opinionated, and are all vying for her attention. You sense there might be a competitive nature to them all… Susan shares a little about her life with us, the viewer, as well as Gavin, Cez, Tasos, Adrian and Theo. She was happily married for 25 years to Russell before he died, leaving her bereft and facing a different future to what she’d envisaged.
But the romantic still has love to give and wants to be with someone ‘who is a good kisser’ and with ‘a man who can keep up’ with her. During an intimate dinner for six,
Susan asks questions to get to know the men around her dining table. We learn that some are separated, or divorced, and all are keen to see out their later years with someone by their side.
Susan is a tactile person and has no problem hugging her potential suitors and kissing them on the cheek.
She’s intrigued by why Adrian would live in an over-50s community, but he admits he suffered a heart attack and lost a lot of money in the franchise businesses he looked after.
By the following morning, Susan has to decide who to eliminate from her home, whittling the guests down one by one until there is only one man left standing…
‘I don’t take prisoners and I won’t be messing about, and if you start off on the right foot it’s a lot easier,’ Susan tells us.
So, what was it like introducing the men to her friends and family?
‘It was fine because they were nice guys and they were on their best behaviour,’ Susan says.
‘I mean, it’s me who is choosing the man in my life, eventually that person will become part of my life and part of the family, but it’s more what I want.’
She seems to have a connection with the suitors and makes an effort to spend some time with each individually. When talking to Gavin, he explains that he found the dinner party during their first night together in Susan’s home hard.
‘I live on my own,’ he admits. ‘It’s almost like solitary confinement.’ He tells Susan that he is a bit out of his comfort zone.
Halfway through the week, when there are three men remaining, Susan takes them to a Twenties-themed evening and everyone looks dashing.
She has a great time dancing with the men and listening to the live music.
But the following morning, she’s emotional and it’s clear she misses Russell. She spends some time alone and seems to bounce back, to what we can only imagine was a huge relief to the remaining housemates.
As the five-day experiment draws to an end, we were still guessing as to who Susan would pick. You can’t help but feel she deserves to be happy and have a kind man by her side by the time her 69th birthday comes around.
That’s what she was after and we just hope she’s finally found it. After all, we all need love. Check out Susan tonight (Tuesday 31 March) at 9.15pm on Channel 4. Or catch up on All4.