Chilling moment serial killer cast in game show in real-life footage that inspired Woman Of The Hour – True Crime

In 1978, Cheryl Bradshaw appeared on the matchmaking show The dating game while looking for love.

She later learned that the man she chose to date, Rodney Alcalá, was in fact a notorious serial killer.

Unearthed video footage shows the chilling moment he singled out Alcala, who would be dubbed ‘The Dating Game Killer’.

Rodney Alcala was in the middle of a killing spree when he appeared on television, having raped and assaulted several people and committed several murders.

Then, in 1978, he continued The dating game and ended up winning a date with Bradshaw.

During the episode, Bradshaw interrogated three eligible bachelors, who were hidden from his view.

At the end of the questioning period, she chose ‘bachelor number one’ – also known as Alcalà – to accompany her on an all-expenses-paid date.

When Bradshaw made his choice, the audience applauded and Alcalá broke into a wide smile.

The pair then came face-to-face and embraced, before it was revealed they were going to play tennis and a trip to a theme park together.

Cheryl Bradshaw met serial killer Rodney Alcala on The Dating Game in 1978 (ABC)

But a chilling encounter behind the scenes caused Bradshaw to decline the date with Alcalá for good, a move that might have saved her from becoming his next victim.

“I started to feel bad,” she told the Sydney Telegraph in 2012. “He was acting really creepy. I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again.”

At the time, he called producer Ellen Metzger and said, “There are weird vibes coming off him. It’s really weird. I’m not comfortable. Is it going to be a problem?”

Fortunately, Metzger agreed and the whole thing was called off.

The chilling crimes of Alcalà are told again in the woman of the house of Netflix (Netflix)

After his appearance The dating gameAlcalá committed at least three more murders, before being arrested on July 24, 1979 and sentenced to death.

The killer died of natural causes in 2021, 42 years after the day he was arrested, and has since been linked to around 130 other cold cases.

Netflix’s latest true crime thriller Woman of the Hourwhich premiered on the streaming platform last week (October 18), tells the story of Alcalà’s victims and their lives, which he brutally ended.

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com called the film “a confidently made thriller that’s not just a true crime story, but an unpacking of systemic misogyny and how it fuels violence.”