Sophie Monk: 'The Bachelorette' 2017 Confirmed VIDEOS

So, yes... the BIG news in TV is that Sophie Monk is 'The Bachelorette'. For real.

YUP.

The woman who publicly says that her love life is in the doldrums and has been unlucky in love has now been plucked by VERY clever Channel Ten network execs and named as this year's new 'Bachelorette'.

Josie's Juice thinks this is kinda PERFECT!

Photo: Channel Ten

Here she is talking about the catalyst for her decision to be said reality TV star... her mum!

Watch:



Soph may have and her fair share of her high profile boyfriends, including Hollywood actor Sam Worthington, musician Benji Madden, even and footballer Eric Grothe Junior, but the 37-year-old will now spend the coming months seeing if she can score her perfect BF as the star of Channel Ten’s hit show. Previous Aussie Bachelorette's have been: Georgia Love and Sam Frost.

Here is what Georgia Love - last year's The Bachelorette - says about life after the show, on the Logies red carpet:



Sophie is no stranger to taking the piss out of herself... and lining others up to do the same. See clip below, with her recent interview with Tom Gleeson on 'The Weekly' TV show:

One thing is for sure... she will make for INTERESTING TV. We say, bring it!



Sophie on KIIS with Kyle and Jackie O:



Here are some old clips of Sophie, then... click on THIS link (but not at work! NSFW!) which is one of Josie's Juice all time viewed posts... it's Playboy, she's hot, and Josie's Juice readers clearly LOVE a good ol' perve... CLICK ON THAT LINK HERE.

Here is how Sophie herself broke the news... she is wetting her pants, people. Love ;)

Omg I'm the new @bacheloretteau 🙈. I'm so excited but wetting my pants. 😬❤️❤️❤️❤️#bacheloretteau

A post shared by Sophie Monk (@sophiemonk) on Apr 23, 2017 at 1:07am PDT

Sophie is no stranger to TV. She has been on all these shows, PLUS she got her start on one of the very first reality TV shows in Australia, 'Popstars', where she was teamed up with fellow singers to create Bardot:



As one of the judges on 'Australia's Got Talent':

And as one of the contestants on 'The Celebrity Apprentice' Australia:

Sophie Monk, sitting, with the cast of Celebrity Apprentice Australia, from left to right: Gabi Grecko, Blake Garvey, Geoffrey Edelstein, James Mathison, Gina Liano, Richard Reid, Monk, Mel Greig, Esther Anderson, Matt Cooper, Tim Dormer and Tegan Martin. Photo: Supplied

 Good luck, Sophie!

Zoosk new Burrit-OH! dating app

Zoosk has 'released' a new Burrit-OH! dating app to match people based on burrito compatibility. YUP. It's *true. Says the blurb, just in: In this cynical age of dating based on rules and judgment, one app bravely helps daters match on something deeper and more essential to the profound human experience of finding a true soulmate — burritos. Here is the app interface: Sydney, Australia, 1 April 2016 (*note the date, folks) — Zoosk, a leading technology-driven dating company, today announced the next revolution in online dating — Burrit-OH!, a mobile dating site that uses a new, game-changing burrito compatibility framework to match potential daters and firmly insert burritos into every aspect of the online dating experience. “Today’s daters are more sophisticated than their predecessors,” explained Roger Flanagan, Zoosk Software Engineer and one of the key Burrit-OH! contributors. “They’re tired of matching on trivial things and are looking for a more meaningful way to connect. We’ve found that way, and that way is burritos.” Burrit-OH! matches singles on a deeper level of compatibility — not age, location, life goals or core beliefs — but their true burrito compatibility. Do you and your date both like the 'butt' (also known as the bottom or end) of the burrito best? Are you both carne asada lovers at heart? Or do you think people who put peas in burrito-rice are evil individuals bent on destroying all that is good and true in this world? Burrit-OH! takes all that into consideration. In fact, it’s the only dating site that matches singles based on the 32 Ingredients™ of a burrito order. Burrit-OH!’s 32 Ingredients™ framework calculates matches using real maths (Not fake maths like means or averages, which are basically just a fancy way of saying you’re guessing). Burrit-OH! uses the cool maths-like algorithms; formulas; addition and subtraction; the Pythagorean theorem; sine, cosine, and tangent; and even that weird one with -b and the ± square root in it. “It calculates what percentage of burrito match you are, based on how you fill out the 32 items in your burrito order,” said Robin Keller, Zoosk Senior Engineer and the person responsible for all the maths stuff in Burrit-OH!. “It’s not like we’re doing the work of Harvard grads or anything, but I learned percentages in middle school and they’re a pretty effective tool for this sort of thing.” In addition to the 32 Ingredients™ framework, extensive research* also went into Burrit-OH!’s emphasis on user experience and design. When creating the interactions in Burrit-OH!, Zoosk focused on creating a visual language for its users that synthesises the classic principles of ordering and eating a burrito with the innovation of today’s most advanced technology. “There were a lot of times where we had to stop and ask some hard questions,” explained Charmagne Kringstein, the UX Manager responsible for the user interface of Burrit-OH!. “Questions like, ‘Are there enough burritos on this screen? Can we put more emphasis on the burritos?’ or ‘How do we make this interaction more burrito-y?’”  The answer was adding more burritos. As a result, Burrit-OH! has more burritos than any other dating site. People on the app don’t just match, they burrito-match. They don’t just message, they talk about burritos. And they don’t just find love, they find their burrito soulmate. “Burrit-OH! is #1 in burritos, burrito matches and burrito conversations,” said Megan Murray, Senior Content Strategist who contributed to the voice and tone of the site. “And after we’ve been out for more than a day, I’m sure we’ll be No. 1 in burrito relationships, too.” This is a different take on dating for Zoosk, a leading online dating company that has previously been focused on non-burrito dating. With its Behavioral Matchmaking™ technology and features such as Photo Verification and Dating Insights, Zoosk has always been an innovator in the dating space. But now, with Burrit-OH!, the organisation is ready to move online dating into a future based on how people really meet and fall in love — through food. To check out Burrit-OH! for yourself and start matching with other people who also love burritos, visit burrit-oh.zoosk.com to learn more and sign up. *Extensive research included a conversation we had in the kitchen about how important eating is to a relationship, how much we love burritos, and a few tidbits from some Hidden Brain episodes we’re pretty sure we remembered incorrectly.

'Dating Naked': Full Episode - VIDEO

'Dating Naked' - the new reality show. No clothes. Reality TV dating. With… no clothes.

A full ep for you right here.

Uh… you're welcome?



Updated: 'Dating Naked' now screens on Australian TV on Thursday nights at 8.30pm on the Eleven channel.

Australia's "Man Drought" Confirmed: McCrindle Research

Social researcher Mark McCrindle has uncovered stats to support what we've long suspected: there is a man shortage in Australia.

The so-called "man drought", an expression often pulled out when talking about the dating 'situation' in Australia, has been used to describe the demographic reality in Australia, where the population of women exceeds that of men.

Currently there are almost 100,000 more women than men in Australia, with 6 out of 8 states and territories 'affected'.

McCrindle Research has crunched the numbers for us, naming the states and cities most afflicted by this 'drought'. Here it is in a handy info-graphic:

Says Mark McCrindle: "That the man drought is a demographic reality. Australia has 100,000 more females than males even though there are more male babies born than females and there are more males than females until around age 35.

"The man drought is most evident during the working years (mid 30s to mid 60s) and is a sign of the global workforce flows and the propensity of Australian men to take advantage of overseas work opportunities. From the mid 70’s the man drought becomes far more evident as the longevity of women exceeds that of men (by the mid 80’s there are 50% more females than males).

The national employment conditions also create these gender differentials."

Interestingly, WA and the NT have a surplus of men.

Why?

Says Mark: "The reliance of WA and the NT on mining (Australia’s biggest sector by employment numbers) and the dominance of males to females in this sector (85%:15%  is the reason that there are far more men than women here. In addition the dominance of Defence bases in the top end, and the younger average median age of these areas (the older, the more likely the man drought) drives these demographics. For more, see here.

The epicentre of the man drought? It's in Victoria. How so? 

"With the second lowest fertility rate in Australia (after the ACT), there are fewer births (the source of more males compared to females) and an older median age (a driver of more females to males) and no male dominated sectors (mining, defence etc) and as a state that has been the provider of much of the mining labour in WA, it leads Australia in the man drought stakes.

This is my fave part of the research: advice to the women who complain they can’t find a man?

"Look for younger men: men exceed women until age 36. In Australia brides are on average 2 years younger than grooms, and brides are marrying later (average age of marriage female: 28, Male 30). However if a 28 year old female looks at males of the same (or slightly younger age), there are 103 males for every 100 females.

Look overseas (there are more than 70 countries with more males than females), look interstate (as our man drought map shows) but also look locally- there are sometimes even adjoining suburbs, one having more males and the next having more females- a quirk of employment, education and housing options in these specific suburbs," says Mark.

What's your experience of dating 'out there'? Lots of choice, or very limited?

Tinder translations: how to decipher men's profiles, by Soraya

Soraya is a 20-something single girl from Sydney who "talks too much, laughs too loud and can often be spotted eating." You can read more from Soraya at http://cheebes.blogspot.com.au/ where Soraya, Finbar and Pats talk about food, booze, travel and fashion.

She wrote a piece just for Josie's Juice on how to translate the men you find on Tinder.

For the unfamiliar, Tinder is described as ... "how people meet. It's like real life, but better". Here's their little teaser video:



And so, Soraya thought she'd give Tinder a go. Here's what she found there... and what she made of it.

Translating men on Tinder, by Soraya.

Being a recently single 20-something means that dating life is integrated with technology, especially now with the rise of dating apps like Tinder.

If you're over clubbing, are working long hours to get ahead career-wise and all of your friends/friends of friends are in relationships, how else are you supposed to meet somebody?

Photo of the gorgeous Soraya

Cue Tinder - the game of "Hot or Not" where a simple left swipe means they are vetoed and never seen again and a right swipe means there is the potential for you to "match", make contact, and... Well I'll leave the rest to your imagination.

Funnily enough, it's my friends in relationships who enjoy Tinder the most. It's the power of rejection without consequences. One of my BFFs even encouraged Tinder as a casual sex tool and recommended I "lower my standards, you're not looking for Mr Right, just Mr Root".

When you are critiquing the opposite sex based on the first photo you see, every ounce of judgey superficiality comes to the surface. The fact remains though, Tinder is a home to some real creatures. So, if a picture tells a thousand words, here are my top Tinder translations of men who receive an instant left swipe, all based on their first profile photo.

1. The guy with the baby

This could mean that either the baby is his, OR, he is trying to show off his sensitive/nurturing side by displaying a baby in his profile pic. Either way, straight to the left... No pre-mades please.

2. The guy with another woman 

Okay, it's good to know you aren't a total alien who can't speak to women, however in your first pic? No dice. And especially if you are holding hands walking across the beach with her. Please get off Tinder.

3. The guy with the puppy

Lure women in with a false sense of security. What he thinks it says: "Puppies are cute, I'm cute, you should like me." What it really says "Please swipe right. Or the puppy gets it."

4. The shirtless guy on the roids 

We all love a selfie... But shirtless, with your post workout veiny bulge? Puhlease. Plus the size of your neck and shoulders is an indicator of some serious upcoming roid rage.

5. The creepy older guy

Your profile says you're 25. Your picture adds at least ten years to that. Left. Left. Left.

6. The guy in the suit. 

We get it. You wore a suit. Once. And yet every single one of your Tinder pics pay homage to you and your one night suited up. Thanks and no.

7. The guy and his mates

The first pic on his profile is a group shot. Him plus seven of his nearest and dearest mates (rendering you the potential ninth wheel in that relationship). You click into his profile and... More pics of his mates. You don't need a crystal ball to know what the majority of your arguments will be about in THAT relationship.

8. The naked guy

You're innocently left swiping away when you are confronted with a picture of naked white bum cheeks and unreasonably tanned legs and back. Often on top of a mountain or under a waterfall. Look past his adorable tight buns and into your future. Nudist beaches.

9. The party boy

He's the guy who is often with one mate, holding a bottle of vodka and pulling an awful face. He's trying to show you he's a lot of fun and knows how to party. What he's really saying is he will be calling you at 4am begging for you to pay for his cab fare home after he spent all of his money on booze and recreational drugs.

10. The DJ

And finally, the guy standing behind decks, headphones against his neck who has probably never played a gig in his life. If you swipe right he will spend ages telling you about where he's played. The truth is, he's not admitting that his only headlining set has been from his bedroom, broadcast live to his siblings, parents and family dog.

Brill post by Soraya!

Tell me, have you been on Tinder? What did you make of it? Did you meet any of these people above?

Miranda Kerr and James Packer: Dating

In celeb news just in according to new.com.au, just months after separating from their respective spouses, billionaire James Packer is romancing Australia's best known model, Miranda Kerr.

Says the article:

"In a move that has surprised even close Packer friends, the casino magnate has been ‎quietly seeing the former Victoria's Secret model during frequent trips abroad."

The article continues:

Well-placed sources yesterday confirmed the new high profile coupling but said the match was only made "very recently".

In a funny coincidence, both Miranda Kerr and James Packer's ex-wife Erica Packer (nee Baxter) hail from the NSW country town of Gunnedah.

To read more, go here.

UPDATED:

The Woman's Day cover, just in... on sale tomorrow:

James Packer and his ex-wife Erica, below:

Cleo December 2013: Cover + Sarah Ranawake Dating Story

The latest issue of Cleo magazine is out, and as usual, the magazine's approach to stories takes on a more investigative bent. Here is the December edition cover, showing Mila Kunis… no, wait! That's Sarah Hyland from TV's 'Modern Family':

This story, below, by the fab features director Sarah Ranawake on what dating is really like is an excellent read (her last day at the mag happens to be today, after several years there. She's an excellent writer and my old work buddy).

Here's the opening photo for the piece, in which she asks: do men really ever make the first move when they see you solo at various hotspots around town? Get the edition - out now - to find out what Sarah discovers about dating and men… (looking HOT Sarah):

What are your dating experiences around town? Tell...

'Ellen': New Online Dating Sites

Flustered about the dating world? And specifically... the myriad dating sites 'out there'?

This. Just on 'Ellen':

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'It's A Date' - ABC TV Series

It's almost the end of this new Australian comedy series 'It's A Date', and I am sad to see it end - I am obsessed with it!

Currently screening on Australian TV - on ABC TV - each Thursday, tonight is the last episode of the 8-part narrative comedy series, and I want more! It's just too good, all of it: the script, the characters, the situations they find themselves in, the way the date progresses and often goes awry, and the message behind the always-unusual couplings.

Seeing which actors appear each week has been the most exciting aspect of the series for me. Think: Asher Keddie, Kate Ritchie, Lawrence Mooney, Ryan Shelton, Sophie Lowe (the 'date' between Sophie and Ryan's characters... most uncomfortable and brilliant viewing, ever), John Wood, Lisa McCune, Stephen Curry, Shane Jacobson, Nadine Garner, Pia Miranda, Lawrence Mooney (his depiction of an ageing radio DJ 'The Pig' is pure gold), Ian Smith ('Harold' from 'Neighbours'!), Peter Helliar, and comedian Ross Noble, alongside some of Australia's best emerging comedy talents including Jess Harris, Ronny Chieng, Kate McLennan, Luke McGregor and Nazeem Hussain.

Peter Helliar (ex-'Rove') is the writer and director of the series, alongside fellow director Jonathan Brough. The show was produced by Laura Waters, who has produced all three of Chris Lilley’s series, 'We Can Be Heroes', 'Summer Heights High', and 'Angry Boys', and is set to produce 'Ja'mie: Private School Girl'.

Here is the extended trailer:
.


Each new episode tackles a different set of situations and addressing a new question each week. Should you have sex on a first date? Does age matter? How accurate are first impressions? How important is honesty on a first date? It's all brilliant, original Australian TV.

Tune in tonight, and buy the DVD when it's released!

'It's A Date' screens tonight Thursday October 3, on ABC1 at 9pm, and all eps are also available on iview here.

'Not Your Mother's Rules' - new book from authors of 'The Rules'

Hey, ladies... remember the book 'The Rules'?

You know the one - 1990s, white cover [Australian edition], could be read in one night, filled with pages on the 'new' way to date. Many women were disciples. Equal parts were aghast.

Here are some of the pearls of wisdom which came from authors Ellen Fein and Sherrie Schneider:

1. Don't Talk to a Man First (and Don't Ask Him to Dance) 

2. Don't Stare at Men or Talk Too Much
3. Don't Meet Him Halfway or Go Dutch on a Date
4. Don't Call Him and Rarely Return His Calls
5. Don't Live With a Man (or leave your things in his apartment)
6. Be Honest But Mysterious
7. Stop Dating Him if He Doesn't Buy You a Romantic Gift for Your Birthday or Valentine's Day

After the mammoth success of that first book, the duo came out with:

'The Rules II', 'The Rules for Marriage', 'The Rules for Online Dating', and then a sorta best-of, 'All the Rules.'

Now, the authors are working on a new book, to be released in February 2013, called 'Not Your Mother's Rules.'

The authors were interviewed by Avi Roseman for JMag online. Here is an excerpt on what the new book will include:

Avi: In your book The Rules for Online Dating, you make it clear that under all circumstances, the man should contact the woman first. Are there any exceptions?

E&S: No exceptions. A woman cannot email, or even wink at a guy's profile, without becoming the aggressor and possibly getting hurt down the line when the guy dumps her for the woman whose profile he really likes. The only way to be sure that a guy is interested is to let him make the first move. If you have something exceptional in common, he has to notice that, and contact you first. The rare exception we have found is when a woman "beats a guy to the punch" by answering his ad first and later finds out that he was about to answer hers, but hadn't gotten around to it. This is very rare and nothing we recommend.

Read the rest of the interview here:

http://www.jdate.com/jmag/2012/05/do-you-follow-the-rules/

In response, the always excellent Lindy West wrote this piece about the ladies' next literary venture on the site Jezebel:

"People are not monolithic. You cannot trick people into loving you by treating them like math equations waiting to be solved. It's dehumanizing. If you want to date a human being you have to treat other human beings like human beings."

Read the rest of Lindy's piece here:

http://jezebel.com/5912459/oh-great-the-rules-is-back-with-a-whole-new-bunch-of-dating-garbage?tag=dating

What do you think? Are the authors spot on? Did you follow 'The Rules' the first time around? Did it garner you 'success'? Or did you vehemently oppose those 'rules'?

For more on 'The Rules', go here: http://www.therulesbook.com/

The duo were even honoured with a send up on Saturday Night Live - which is a must-watch:

Single mum dating: 'Surely there are nice men out there?'

Recently, a single mum wanting to dip her toe into the dating scene wrote about her experiences, which definitely didn't go to plan. [Oh, if only it were all lovely 'The Brady Bunch'-style...] 

Have a read and see if you can relate:

http://josiesjuice.blogspot.com.au/2012/05/dating-and-divorced-mum-as-single-mum.html

She then delved further into actual dating disasters. And I do mean, disasters. Dangerous ones. Hurtful ones. Here is 'a word of warning' story, which is, at times, quite confronting:

"Well a year on and I was asked out for a coffee. ‘No harm in that’, I thought. He was a friend of some of my friends. We had a lovely time. Should I trust again? I agreed to a second and third date. During this time I kept it all from my children. I did not want them to feel the pain again and if this was someone I could go further with this time I had to be sure before introducing them. 

Things went badly when I went to his house for dinner. I had a drink, only one and started to feel strange. I am not a big drinker and NEVER have more than two drinks when out in public and having a meal. I was on my first drink and felt spaced and noticed I was getting tired. My balance was off as well. He became all handsy when I had clearly said I am in no rush or position to be more then friends at this point in time.  

I guess as an adult you know your body more than a teenager. I know how alcohol affects me. I know what is normal with ‘ME’. I swapped drinks. He passed out. I sat for hours fearing he would wake up but not thinking logically. I SHOULD have called friends to come and get me or the police, anyone. I didn’t. I was nearly 40 and for the first time I had been drugged. I had never even seen a joint, let alone anything else. 

When I thought I was right I drove home in the early hours of the morning. I shouldn’t have, I fell out of the car. With grazed knees I went to bed and cried. This was not what dating was meant to be about! Surely there are nice men out there? Maybe not, maybe they are taken and all the idiots are left. Either way the next night I looked at my daughter with deep fear at what she may face in this new world of dating. It is certainly a scary place now. How do I protect her? 

Education is the key. If I didn’t know about date drugs or known about how alcohol affects my body I could have been in real danger.

Again I stayed single for quite a while. However even though dating had not been going well, many of my friends had found their soul mates. There must be good men out there. Just not where I was looking! 

I did go on another date and for three months things went well. We decided for our families to meet the following weekend. I felt comfortable with that finally. The Thursday night before, I went to visit an old friend. She had also met someone new and we had not seen each other for months, so a good girly night was in order. It was holidays for us both and the children were with their dad so all was good in our worlds. 

She showed me a picture of him and yes as you can imagine my world was shocked again. It was the man I was seeing as well. She had met him on a date site. He had mentioned stuff about a girl he was ‘breaking up with’.. and that was me. 

My friend and I are very similar. We have similar interests, same jobs, same age but her children were older and she was thinner. It shouldn’t matter, I know, but there it was in his emails to her from the site all about my kids (even though he never met them) and my weight. 

My friend and I both confronted him that night and told him our thoughts. Friends stick together and we did. We were both devastated!

Right now I am single. I am not bitter or twisted but grateful for the lessons that I have learnt. Some I will share with my daughter when she is old enough to understand. I hope with knowledge she will be able to be safe in her dating journey and aware of what she may face. 

The fundamentals of boy meets girl has not changed. You meet and hopefully fall in love. Society I feel has changed. As a single parent with children who live with you, dating is very different. It is not just you, you need to think of. You have little people who watch your every move. If you fall, so do they. As scary as it sounds I am the only role model my daughter has and will build all her future relationships on. 

After these failed relationships I realised I was going about it all wrong. I thought I needed companionship. I was wrong. Even though we are fundamentally pack animals it is the strong that survive. To survive in this new era of dating and as an older single mum I needed to be happier within myself and who I am. I need to be strong enough to say ‘hey this is me, yes I come with baggage, we all do, its called life’. 

If you are okay with this, then we can grow together. If you are not, just be my friend. Be aware of what is out there. If you are on a site, meet in a public place. Watch your drink. I know we have heard all this before but now, at age 40, I did not think it would happen to me. You are NEVER too old to be drugged. 

Protect your children. They look up to you. You are their role models. Children grow up too fast as it is, they don’t need to know about your possible dates until you are sure. They hurt too when it falls apart. I look at my daughter now nearly in her teenage years. She has her head screwed on well. She is educated but has been protected as well. I kept these men from her and am glad that I did. 

She would have been devastated and untrusting as I was when this all happened. It is not fair to place that on her. I believe there are amazing people out there, you just need to be cautious. Love will come to me when I am ready. For now it is time to focus on my children and all the dreams I have for the coming years. I am surrounded by wonderful friends and family. 

I will never grow old alone and next time I am ready to try dating again, I will go in with an open mind, but with the knowledge of potential dangers that are out there. Education and knowledge are truly the key to dating safely and dating as an older, single mum in this present day."

Written by "G.A".

What are your dating-as-a-single-mum experiences? Share - anonymous if you prefer.

Dating and the divorced mum: "As a single mum we are a package."

'Sleepless in Seattle' - ah if only all single parent dating experiences were like this.

Read this real-life story from a single mum who tries dating for the first time:

"If someone had of told me as a teenager that I would be divorced with two young children by 36 I would have laughed at them. “Not me!" would have been my reply. A good Catholic girl, who has her whole life mapped out to the smallest detail. No way was this going to happen to me. I was to meet my prince in shining armour at 24, marry the following year, and have my first child at 29. That was after I had completed university, bought a house, travelled overseas at least once and owned a car. Yes I did everything to a 'T'. So why would I ever think that it would all come to an end. Oh how wrong I was!

At 36 my marriage fell apart and suddenly I was faced with raising two children under age eight, alone. Naturally, it was very daunting. For about a year, I kept it all together, though saddened when my children went to stay with their dad for the weekend. The blow came when he informed me he had met someone new. I went through the stages of anger and decided that maybe it was time to venture out into the world to seek a new partner. Oh my gosh - the dating scene ahhh!! Where to start, though? I went out with a few girlfriends to a local club but that was just pathetic. People drunk and pawing you… this was not where I could find a man to introduce to my children. There it hit me... it is not just me I need to consider here; I had to be selective for their sakes as well as my need for adult companionship.

A friend suggested I try a dating site. It all seemed overwhelming, like checking through a catalogue for that perfect bargain. So… which men are on sale today? Very odd and scary, as I imagined them doing the same to me. For a month I put my profile up and was swarmed with interest; that just freaked me out and I hid my profile again. Finally in the second month I decided to try again. A few people sent a ‘Kiss’. I accepted and started to chat with three different men. They all seemed nice but I guess anyone can from a computer screen. They all asked me for a meal. Hmmm, I guess I had to go.

Now to freak out! Dates and times were set… a busy weekend ahead, but exciting. I dressed for a lunch date, the first one. Now, what to wear? My five year old child came in, “Mum, why does your bum wobble?” Grrr, I think I need to change! Kids can be so cruel. I wish their father would come so I can finish getting ready. 

I feel nervous; what if he didn’t like me? What if he thought I was ugly, dull or fat? Oh my God! It was high school all over again. Those feelings you get when you think you are not good enough or you may get judged came flooding back. Here I was, now 38, going on my first date and feeling like a teenager. It was awful, I didn’t have the rapport, I didn’t know him, he was a stranger… maybe a criminal… okay, the imagination was going wild!

I decided to meet in a public place to ease those thoughts of becoming a crime statistic. It was awkward, he was boring, and he only talked about how great he was to the human race… and I ran like hell. The same for the next date, but the third was different.

We seemed to hit it off. We talked for hours and feelings grew. I felt so comfortable with him. Even his family loved me, and mine didn’t try to turn the sprinklers on him when he entered the yard, so it was great all ‘round. Six months had passed and our children had met. They got on at first, and after nine months, we moved in together. 

Then the cracks grew. It became an ‘us against them’ mentality which caused us great stress. It became too much and we parted after a year and a half. Still friends, but too hurt to ever try again. My children were hurt as well. It was awful; I had put them through another break up, and I felt as low as you could get.

My children will always come first and as a single mum we are a package and they are and will always be the most important people in my life. It was something I had not thought about - the impact of my search for companionship would have on them. I stayed single for a year after that."

Written by "G.A".

Dating: "Guys are no exception when it comes to being ‘played’."

You know, sometimes the best posts are sparked from a frustrated, honest declaration you see on Facebook.

This one came from a guy in his 20s, about dating women, and what he calls the "fake-ness of it all." 

From women.

I asked - well let's call him Phil - to write a piece on his experiences of dating. And here we are:

“What frustrates me most about women I would like to date is mostly the absence of actual love and emotion. I see this in a lot of couples, who really date for social acceptance and the belief that this person will improve their image."

Frankly, I was a little gobsmacked. I mean, really? It has been a while since I was 'out there' dating, but I wondered [and asked him], were some women really that mean?

Continues Phil: "You see examples of this all the time: pretty much any celebrity couple out there. Two attractive people hook up with nothing in common, yet they pursue a relationship because it puts them in the spotlight.

It’s the same thing that happens these days in society because a lot of girls/guys will only date someone who will actually make them look good or give them something they cannot get themselves... like money.

What kind of girl am I looking for?

I do believe there are genuine girls out there who do date for the right reasons, and hopefully I’ll find one. I have friends who are definitely decent girls who do date for the right reasons, but they have been jerked around in the past.

As have I.

Guys are no exception when it comes to being ‘played’, you know.

Here’s what I have had happen to me: having a girl only text you when they want something, flirt with you when they have no one else, lead you on because it gives them something to do. Then, when you fall for the trap and actually develop feelings for them they casually say, we are only friends, or, I didn’t mean anything by it. I’ve had girls who have flirted with me, and then when I do make a move they say, ‘I’m not like that!’.

It’s frustrating!

The girl I look for is someone genuine, funny and down to earth... someone who is just themselves.”

What do you think about Phil's experiences on dating women.

Meanwhile, here is a bad, bad breakup, Carrie-style (I couldn't think of a bad breakup for a boy on film/TV... drop me a line if you can):