A UK online dating service (DatingDirect.com) held a National Date Day Charity Auction for the 4th year in September 2006. The Belfast Telegraph explained that the auction (which ran from September 21st to October 1st). would allow fans to get a chance to bid for a once-in-a-lifetime dream date with their “idol”.
Strangely they were using the term “idol” for Miss Northern Ireland, even though (presumably) she would have only just won the title and so wouldn’t be known to that many people?
Idolatry normally takes a little longer to build…
The article went on to say that other dream dates available included:
- Miss Great Britain
- Miss Scotland
- Miss England
- Jimmy Carr
- Chris Tarrant
- Liz McClarnon (Atomic Kitten)
- Lily Allen
- Jody Kidd
- Jade Parfitt
- Jamie Theakston
Auction proceeds were to be given the UK Charity of the celebrity’s choice.
On September 23rd it was reported that Chris’s marriage had collapsed a couple of days before and this was paired up with the story of him being in the auction. Some of the bid amounts (with a week to go) were listed as:
- £1,485 – Liz McClarnon
- £1,664 – Lily Allen
- £304 – Jimmy Carr
- £334 – Chris Tarrant
According to the NME Lily, with a couple of days to go, had a bid of £2,100+ which would eventually go to a music charity, Strummerville.
I tried all kinds of tricks (including the British Newspaper Archive) but couldn’t pin down anyone else’s final numbers, on October 1st.
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