Can you eat at the First Dates restaurant without being a candidate?
In the Vox show “First Dates – Ein Tisch für Zwei” host and TV chef Roland Trettl has been bringing singles to a table week after week since 2018 who have never met before. It is eaten in a chic restaurant in Cologne, the candidates can choose between noble dishes such as veal cheeks, pickled salmon or rabbit. But: can everyone eat there without being a candidate on the show?
Reason enough to pursue the obvious question: does the “First Dates” restaurant actually exist? Or to put it another way: Can you dine there without being a candidate? The shooting takes place in a hall in Cologne-Ehrenfeld.” For the show, the hall was converted into a restaurant and equipped with remote-controlled cameras that were as inconspicuous as possible. As a result, the singles should not feel like candidates in a TV studio, but “like completely undisturbed guests in a real restaurant.”
Who the other restaurant-goers are on First Dates
And who are the other restaurant visitors who can be seen in the background, sometimes at the bar, sometimes eating? On the one hand, according to the Vox spokesman, there are extras who were specially hired to record the show. Anyone who follows “First Dates” regularly will also have noticed that some participants from different episodes can be seen at the same time when dating.
So if you want to dine in the “First Dates” restaurant yourself and get to know Roland Trettl’s crew, you only have two options. Firstly, you become a candidate on the show yourself – in principle, anyone who is single and wants to fall in love can do that. “No matter how old you are, where you come from, what you do for a living – you are very welcome at ‘First Dates – A table for two’,” says the website. You can apply here.
Become an extra at the First Dates restaurant
The second option is to dine in the TV restaurant: you apply to be an extra. Here it is important to keep your eyes open for relevant job advertisements. Most recently, in January, the production company Warner.Bros Germany was looking for extras between the ages of 20 and 60 for “first dates” on the online job portal komparse.de , which is specially designed for media professionals. According to the advertisement, there is a gross fee of 10 euros per hour for a three- to five-hour day of shooting, including free food and drinks. “You are also welcome to apply directly as a couple,” it continues. The advertisement does not state whether you need special acting experience to be a guest in a restaurant.
