Jesse Mulligan is a multi-media master and it seems he may be a dating master too. Photo / Babiche Martens
Welcome to the first season of the Herald’s dating podcast: It’s A Date. Join Herald dating columnist Lillie Rohan as she takes notable Kiwis on a fantasy date, finding out about their relationships and love lives along the way.
Jesse Mulligan knows food.
He knows the hottest spots in town and the hottest chefs and he knows where you would want to go to make an impression on a first date.
But Mulligan admits a restaurant is one of the last places he would take a first date.
“I read a study that you have a better chance of bonding on a first date if you do something exciting, like if you both get a bit of adrenaline going.”
This week the multimedia master and RNZ Afternoons host took It’s A Date podcast host Lillie Rohan on an adrenaline-inducing first date at the Auckland Sky Tower where they chat about quirks, red flags, first kisses and “drongos”.
“Yeah, I’ve got one tonight actually.” Mulligan and his wife, Victoria, have four children, ranging in age from 3 to 11, and the couple are still big on date nights.
But the Herald columnist reveals the dates are slightly different to the ones they would go on earlier on in their relationship.
“The funny thing now is I know her so well that I do all these things pre-date that you would never do with someone you didn’t know very well. Like I call her and say, ‘now remember to take a coat, you know, you don’t like getting cold, You might wanna snack about six o’clock cuz you know we’re gonna be sitting down at eight o’clock, and food’s gonna take a while.’
“It’s kind of like taking an elderly parent out.” he jokes.
Mulligan says anyone who doesn’t have a funny bone would be a red flag for him if he were to date again - however that notion is completely off the table as he is very happily married.
Regardless, the RNZ host says, “I don’t know if I would see a big future for us if you’ve got no funny bone.”
Mulligan says he is a “quirky” person and his wife has “normalised” him however when it comes to putting on a facade, he says, “I wish I had the ability to be anyone other than who I am.
“I’ve got to have dinner with some pretty famous people in my time and unfortunately, of all my talents, being able to turn it on for a date or for a dinner guest is not one of ‘em.
“I can only be who you’re looking at and hearing right now. I’m sorry.”
Mulligan’s four children - two daughters and two sons - aren’t close to dating just yet but when they are, he is no more worried about his daughters entering the dating world than his sons, but he does have a shared fear for all his kids.
“I really just don’t want my children to end up with drongos,” he says, “as you get older you learn to spot them. The no-hopers. They haven’t got a job, no interests, no plans, no passions, and you look at your perfect child and you spend all your money and energy raising,” he shrugs.
“But the heart wants what the heart wants.”
The Viva restaurant reviewer’s first kiss would steam up kitchens and may raise some eyebrows but the Kiwi media personality laughs while recalling the kiss that took place when he was 13.
You’ll have to tune in to the podcast for that story, though.
Listen to the full It’s A Date podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
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