First Dates’ ‘creepy’ Chris not so creepy, and he’s off the market

HE WAS called “weird”, “creepy” and “a walking self-help book”, but believe it or not, Chris from First Dates has already found love after the show.

Tracking down First Dates’ ‘Creepy Chris’

IT MIGHT confound the critics who dubbed him “creepy” Chris on reality show First Dates, but mystery man Chris Walker has found romance, and is off the market.

Although the 44-year-old Sydneysider, whose appearance on the first episode in February saw him dubbed an “International Man of Mystery”, is keeping his cards close to his chest.

“She’s a very private person so I won’t give details,” Walker says, revealing the pair met a few days after the show.

“How we met was as random as it gets. I was grabbing a coffee and I just rounded a corner and — boom — there she was. So yes, I’m seeing someone. I’m attached.”

At no time during their first date did he say “I believe I have arrived,” as he did when he entered the First Dates restaurant, and set off a Twitter tsunami which saw him variously described as “an awkward James Bond’’, a “walking new-age self-help book”; “weird”; “a tad odd”, “evasive”, and “smooth but no substance” — and those are the kinder references.

When his date with Caterina was over, it was revealed as the credits rolled that Chris disappeared without a trace, despite plans for a second date, which left viewers concluding — even hoping — he was an actor.

Producers assured us he was the real deal, worked in finance, and while he did occasional extras work, he was not an actor.

But there was no word from the man himself.

So we tracked him down for a coffee.

Flashback: Chris connects with Caterina on First Dates. Picture: Supplied

And he didn’t stand us up. Nor he did not announce he had arrived, suggest we get lubricated, (as he did at the bar on his TV date), stare intensely into eyes or awkwardly stroke hands.

He isn’t a spy, has his own company, describes himself as an entrepreneur, and it’s quite a while since an extras acting gig.

Talking to Chris isn’t a game of elusive cat-and-mouse. But it can be like herding cats.

Amused that people would think he was not real, he offered his driver’s licence.

Asked “are you for real” he cocks an eyebrow. “I’m a dynamic introvert ... it’s just one of those things,” he shrugs. “It just means I have a unique way of approaching things.”

Was he was deliberately evasive about his family and work on his date?

“There are times you want to discuss things and it’s the right time and there are times that it’s not,” he grins.

“When you meet someone for the first time … I hate the boring talk, the ‘what do you do the where are you from’, I want to have a more dynamic interactive moment.”

He’s unfazed by the final edit of the date, and yes, he watches the show.

Getting real: Chris opens up over a coffee. Picture: Supplied

“They have done this show so well — the characters in the first episode ... I was the bad boy, they had the crazy cat woman, the lovely couple 19-years-old falling in love — it was the full spectrum,” he says.

Reactions since his appearance have ranged from ‘man, you were the funniest dude ever’ to ‘you were so rude — what’s going on?’

“That sums up my idea of the world — everyone sees what they want to see, Chris says.

And he didn’t exactly vanish. “I asked for her (Caterina’s) number, between shooting, then someone interrupted us and we were on the next thing,” he says.

“I threw it out there, we got separated, the number didn’t materialise, so I was like ‘move on’.”

Of the date conversation which went from car-crash-awkward to semi-confrontational when an exasperated Caterina said: “Whilst your act is charming and sexy, can we get real?”

Chris says: “You just have to push the boundaries and figure out who is in front of you”.

“”I threw a lot of stuff at her where I’m thinking ‘she’s still holding together’.”

“I thought she would be in stitches, then she came back firing and I thought ‘I better step up my game’. I went to have a fun date. And I did. Lots of it was just in the moment.”

Including, that awkward ‘let’s get lubricated’ line?

“Blame Jack’: That’s Chris’ explanation for that line. Picture: Supplied

Chris has the grace to almost wince.

“I came up to the bar, she’s already got a cocktail and I’m like ‘I want to make sure I put myself in the right state’.

“So I want my Jack Daniels, ‘four ice cubes and three dashes of dry’ — exactly how I like it and the guy doesn’t have Jack Daniels and I’m like ‘come on’.

“Maybe it was the lack of Jack Daniels — he’s the man to blame. Every time I think of Jack Daniels, I think of lubrication. It’s my drink.

Originally published as First Dates’ ‘creepy’ Chris not so creepy, and he’s off the market