The new 'Blind Date' (Streetmate)

Member Name: Tara

Product:	Streetmate
Date:	27/01/01 (327 review reads)
Rating:

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Street mate

Streetmate is a kind of hip ‘Blind Date’ with a slightly better formula for the new generation.

Each week the wonderful Davina McCall goes to a city in the UK and proceeds to grab a guy or a girl (aged between 18 to 24) off the street. They then pick out a member of the opposite sex they like the look of and Davina chases them down the street, the camera shaking like mad as it follows her. Then, if they’re single and they’re up for it, she sets them up on a date. It’s a streetmate!

But before they show the actual date, Streetmate follows both of them back to their houses to talk to their friends and/or family about what type of guys/girls they usually go for, and to see them getting ready. This way you get a lot more information about the two of them than you do on similar shows.

Then (and this is the main thing that makes it different from ‘Blind Date’), the viewers are shown brief moments of the date. Afterwards, they are interviewed by Davina to see how it went, and again a few months later to see if they stayed in touch. Unlike ‘Blind Date’ the couple often hit it off and tell all the saucy details to the viewers, which is always a plus point.

The show has been going for a few series now (the newest of which began last Friday night at 9.30 on Channel 4) and it’s not hard to see why.

The show is addictive.

The editing and camera work it very rough all the way through (particularly when they’re on the streets), and obviously not scripted, which makes it kind of mad, with something almost live-TV about it.

And as we know from her past work on Big Brother, etc, Davina was made for Live TV. She makes the whole show. She is young, cool and full of energy. In my opinion it wouldn’t be the same without her.

Davina does two “Streetmates” each episode (which lasts half an hour). And because of th
is, the show is very fast paced (as they have to fit so much in) and rarely boring.

All in all, a great TV program and one that you’ll be hooked to after the first few minutes.

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