Disastrous first dates go viral on Twitter

First dates that go wrong can be seared into your memory forever. Photo / Getty Images

First dates can be hell - and if you're part of one, there's now a chance the experience could be immortalised on Twitter.

Hundreds of people have taken to the social networking site to recount their tales of disastrous dates, after one writer tweeted his experience.

One woman recounted in 140 characters how a man she met did not know a kiwi was a bird, and wanted to see her again because she was clever.

Another woman related how she turned up at a blind date's house to find him in a dressing gown and sporting an electronic monitoring bracelet.

He had the cheek to ask: "Shall we just stay in?"

The Twitter page called First Date Hell and a website, Crapdate.com, allow people to post their stories of cringe and embarrassment.

Page creator Rhodri Marsden set up his new venture after sharing his own disastrous experience at a pub in London.

"The silences became excruciating," he said.

"She was from Wigan, and I actually heard myself saying, 'So, what's Wigan like, then?"'

The post led to hundreds of his 17,000 followers telling snippets in up to 140 characters.

He told the Independent: "If you've ever dated via non-traditional means - lonely hearts columns, internet dates, speed dates, or inappropriate blind dates set up by well-meaning but unhelpful friends - you'll have a stack of anecdotes detailing the occasions it went badly wrong.

"Whether you disliked the other person, they disliked you, or you found some kind of grim solidarity in your mutual loathing, that unique social discomfort tends to be seared into your memory forever.

"The stories become dinner-party staples; your appalling experiences, mellowed by time, transforming into comedy gold."

He claimed the British tended to have "more potent" tales because they were more socially inept, more apologetic and more likely to put up with rudeness and idiocy.

The stories online had been "stripped of extraneous detail and they become brilliantly funny one-liners", Mr Marsden said.

The majority of stories came from women complaining about men.

One dating account told how a woman turned up with 25 photographs of American poet Sylvia Plath's grave "as a conversation opener".

And one brazen man made an 18-year-old girl wait in the car while he burgled a house. She had no idea.

Another complainant added: "One gentleman took me to the pub carpark to show me his motorbike. He revved it for about 10 minutes then did a lap and drove off."

Several people also revealed some of the most ridiculous excuses they or their date had used to get out of a date.

One woman's date ended when the man said he had to get home to the chicken breast going off in his fridge, while another said he had to go and see a friend's cat.

- STAFF REPORTER