Mayo 'bold boy' Alan looking for love on this week's episode of First Dates Ireland

A Ballina man will appear on one of Ireland's most loved reality TV shows, RTÉ's First Dates Ireland, tomorrow, Thursday night at 9.35pm.

Speaking to Mayo Live, Alan Dunne (30) says he originally applied for the dating show "a couple of years ago, but was in a relationship by the time filming rolled around". Now, single and ready to mingle, when the opportunity came his way again he thought it was "now or never". When submitting his audition tape this time around, it was his work colleague that "pushed [him] into it".

While he couldn't give the inside scoop about how his date went, he "can't say enough" about the experience, labelling it as "great craic".

Looking for someone with a ‘bit of chat’, Megan (30) from Kildare meets one-liner aficionado Alan from Mayo on Thursday's show, who sums up his dating strategy as ‘a shy baby doesn’t get no sweets’.

Who doesn’t love a white magnum?#FirstDatesIRL returns this Thursday at 9:35pm | @RTEPlayer pic.twitter.com/grRPhYVl3X

— RTÉ2 (@RTE2) January 9, 2024

Also on Thursday's show, Yoga instructor and donkey sanctuary worker Sinead (60) from Limerick comes to the restaurant to find ‘the One’ but will retired garda Michael (63) from Wexford be the one to fit the description?

Genderqueer, non-binary, bisexual and polyamorous civil servant Bel (30) from Wicklow meets pansexual Dublin hairdresser and self-described ‘adult Emo’, Sam (28).

On leave from her job in equine reproduction, Nahia (21) from Swords assesses the dating potential of impressively ripped gentle giant Chaggie (24) from Blanchardstown.

You can catch First Dates Ireland on RTÉ 2 tomorrow, Thursday at 9.35pm.