Southampton singleton Helen Thorogood has gone on national TV to try to find her Mr Right. She tells KATE THOMPSON why she dared to go public with her dating disasters...
AT 35 years old, Helen Thorogood seemingly has it all.
She is a manager on an executive wage with her own stylish city flat - and having recently lost three stone she has never looked better.
But there is one thing missing from Helen's life - and that's a fella.
Her quest to find her prince charming has thrown up more frogs than suitable boyfriends - and Helen had embarked on a downhill spiral of loveless one-night stands that left her feeling even more lonely and dejected.
"I had completely lost all confidence. I have been single for three years and prior to that I was in a four-year relationship that shouldn't have gone past two or three months.
"I had no confidence that men would want me for anything other than sex. I had got myself into a bit of an unhealthy routine as far as one-night stands was concerned," she said.
She was craving affection but instead she was getting meaningless sex. She was desperate to change her life so when she heard they needed applicants for the new series of BBC 2's Would Like To Meet show, Helen jumped at the chance.
"I was so far down the path with one-night stands that I couldn't turn it round on my own.
"I thought that if I publicly came out with the way that I was, it would give me the incentive to change," she said.
For six weeks the cameras followed Helen as she laid bare the details of her life - and the experts helped her to pick up the pieces and change her world completely.
"They have helped boost my confidence and I was able to look at myself objectively as a bystander and realise I do deserve more.
"I knew what I was doing wrong - but doing the programme opened my eyes to why I was doing it," she said.
Issues with her late father and her own low self-esteem were examined in the programme and Helen's culinary skills and fashion statements also came under scrutiny.
At the end of the show Helen had to find a man to go on her date - and while she did not find romance, she did feel more in control of the situation.
"I haven't met anybody since doing the programme but I have been out with several men.
"I have had a proper date, when I met up with a man on a week- day evening just for a couple of drinks and a grown-up, sensible chat.
"I don't feel so desperate any more - if I meet somebody that I like I know I will be able to have a date with them.
"Before I was always worried about whether or not they liked me - but now I decide whether I like them and whether I want to see them again. I do feel more in charge," said Helen.
Would Like to Meet is running at 6pm every weekday evening. Helen's episode will air on October 23.
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