THE glamour of the small screen, a hint of romance, and the chance of a holiday in the sun, beckoned an Alton girl who is due to appear on the first of a newly revamped series of ÔBlind DateÕ.
Laura Beech (22), a third year student at Herefordshire University, will be among the first trio of girls to experience Cilla BlackÕs new-look programme when it hits our screens this autumn.
Entitled ÔDitch or DateÕ it contains a novel twist to the selection process as Laura and her screen debut partners were to find out!
A former pupil of Robert Mays School at Odiham, where her parents are both teachers, and later of Alton College, Laura is currently studying graphic design at Hatfield and has her sights fixed either on joining the police force or on becoming a childrenÕs TV presenter.
According to Laura, she was watching Blind Date in the student house with her flat-mate, Neil, when an invitation flashed on the screen, inviting people to audition for the next programme.
Bored at the time, Laura resolved to Òhave a goÓ and rang for an audition.
She was one of around 1,600 to audition and one of a handful picked to go on to meet Cilla Black. Apparently she was able to impress with a demonstration of her skills as a cocktail waitress.
The demo was enough to get the Alton girl through to the second audition when she was asked to act out a scene in which she was chatting someone up in a bar - Ònot too difficult for a cocktail waitressÓ, according to Laura who then had to perform a party trick.
Unprepared for such a request and having done a Òbit of gymnasticsÓ as a child, Laura performed an Arab spring which landed her in a group of five, of which one only would go forward to appear on the show - and she was that person!
ÒI didnÕt know at the time that this was going to be a new style Blind Date,Ó said Laura who was delighted to be told that she was to be one of the three girls vying to be picked by a guy on the very first programme of the new series.
And, while the rest, as they say, is history for Laura, it will remain a secret to our readers until the programme has been shown this autumn on ITV Channel 3.