Love-hungry contestants competing to win a Valentine's Day dinner date

amuse the audience with  humorous, thoughtful and slightly naughty

answers at Talkin' to a Stranger

Photo by: Anita Surewicz

Blind Date contestants await the verdict.

Photo by: Anita Surewicz

One of the happy couples.

In the spirit of Valentine's Day and matchmaking, Phnom Penh bar and restaurant Talkin' to a Stranger hosted its first Blind Date game Wednesday night.

Modelled on the popular '60s and '70s TV show The Dating Game, the object of the game was for one single lady and one single man to question a panel of three potential dates hidden from their sight, and to choose one person to go on a romantic Valentine's Day date, based solely on the answers to their questions.

Host Kevin Britton kicked off the night by introducing the two dates to the audience: Adele, an ESL teacher from Liverpool, England, and Dan, an American artist from Chicago. Both were quickly escorted to the upper balcony and given their three questions, which had been hand-picked from audience contributions.

Next, the panel of contestants made up of three single ladies and three single men were brought out and seated on the stage below.

Each contestant was given a shooter for good luck, and the game began.

Adele's first question read, "If we had an evening at my place watching TV, what would you like to watch?"

Bachelor No 2 was quick to answer: "Nothing. We would turn the TV off" - to which the audience responded with  numerous catcalls. Bachelor No 3, also quick to answer, responded with "Porn", earning him a round of laughter. Bachelor No 1 stumbled a bit, but eventually came up with: "A corny American reality show so we could spend time criticising it and thinking ‘Who would be so stupid to watch this?'"

Prior questions included, "If we went on a couple of dates and your friends told you to drop me, what would you do?" and "If you were a teacher and I was a bad, bad girl, how and where would you punish me?"

In the end, it was Bachelor No 2's quick wit that won over Adele, and the lucky Prateek and Adele won a romantic Valentine's Day dinner for two at Malis restaurant, as well as an unlimited bar tab that night at Talkin' to a Stranger.

The girls compete

Next up was Dan, whose first question was, "Where would you take me for a really romantic dinner?"

Bachelorette No 3 answered: "I think the sunsets in Phnom Penh are astonishing, so I'd take you out in a speedboat with a bottle of Champagne, and take you around the river." Bachelorette No 1 followed in the same vein. "I'd take you to Snowy's for sunset cocktails and then to a restaurant on the other side of the river." But Bachelorette No 2 earned the loudest round of applause with the classic, yet simple, "Your place or mine?"

Dan's following questions included: "We all know that the sexiest part of a woman is her eyes, but what other part of your body do you consider the sexiest?" and "Some people like to scream ‘Daddy, Daddy' in bed. What would you scream and why?"

After a slew of humourous  and slightly naughty answers, Dan finally opted for the sexy but sweet Polara, and the couple won a Valentine's Day dinner for two at Topaz, champagne from Quatro, and a bar tab at Talkin' to a Stranger for Saturday night.

Postgame wrap-up

Following the game, the lucky couples were given the opportunity to converse, to get to know each other and trade information before Saturday's dates.

After a quick chat, Adele and Prateek both retired to their respective groups of friends.

"I'm not looking for a husband, but I'm looking forward to having a few laughs," Adele said. Prateek seemed to share the same outlook, but added, "You never know. In Phnom Penh, anything can happen."

Polara and Dan seemed to have a few more things to talk about, as they spent a good portion of the evening chatting over cocktails at the bar. "I definitely picked the most interesting, coolest girl," said Dan. Polara seemed just as smitten. "I'm pretty excited, as this will be my first date in about two years."

The event was sponsored by AsiaLIFE magazine, restaurants Topaz and Malis, AusKhmer, Quatro wines and The Secretary.