In 1978, Cheryl Bradshaw appeared on matchmaking series The Dating Game as she searched for love.
Little did she know, the man she chose to go on a date with – Rodney Alcala – was in fact a notorious serial killer.
Cheryl Bradshaw met Rodney Alcala on The Dating Game in 1978 (American Broadcasting Company)
Alcala was part-way through a crime spree when he appeared on the show, having raped and assaulted multiple people and committed several murders.
Then, in 1978, he went on The Dating Game and ended up winning a date with Bradshaw.
But, while she was charmed by Alcala, who presented himself as a photographer who went skydiving for fun, during their TV appearance, a creepy encounter off-camera left Bradshaw feeling deeply unsettled.
“I started to feel ill,” she would later tell the Sydney Telegraph in 2012. “He was acting really creepy. I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again.”
And, in a disturbing revelation from the show, when asked about his ‘best time,’ Alcala hinted at his criminal activities, replying: “The best time is at night.”
Anna Kendrick plays Cheryl Bradshaw in Netflix’s retelling of Alcala’s horrifying crimes (Netflix)
Bradshaw reportedly called up producer Ellen Metzger and said: “There’s weird vibes that are coming off of him. He’s very strange. I am not comfortable. Is that going to be a problem?”
Fortunately, Metzger agreed and she went on to decline the date, a move that might have saved her life.
Following her decision to turn him down, Alcala – who has since been dubbed ‘The Dating Game Killer’ – would go on to commit at least three other murders, before being arrested on 24 July, 1979 and being handed a death sentence.
The killer died of natural causes in 2021, 42 years to the day he was arrested, and has since been linked to around 130 other cold cases.
Netflix’s latest true crime thriller Woman of the Hour, which was released on the streaming platform on Friday (18 October), tells the story of Alcala’s victims and the lives he brutally ended.
Directed by Anna Kendrick, who also stars as Cheryl Bradshaw, the film’s synopsis on IMDB reads: “Cheryl Bradshaw, a single woman looking for a suitor on a hit 1970s TV show, chooses charming bachelor Rodney Alcala, unaware that, behind the man’s gentle facade, he hides a deadly secret.”
The film has received rave reviews so far, with a 92 percent approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes and Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com calling it ‘a confidently made thriller that’s not just a true crime story but an unpacking of systemic misogyny and how it encourages violence.’
You can watch Woman of the Hour on Netflix now.
