A DATING show contestant revealed the disturbing words that gave her a very bad feeling after she inadvertently choose a serial killer as her suitor on the show.
Cheryl Bradshaw competed on The Dating Game in 1978 and had no clue that one of her castmates, Rodney Alcala, was in the middle of an uncontrollable murder spree when he won her heart.
Cheryl Bradshaw picked a serial killer to take her out in a 1978 episode of The Dating Game[/caption]
Rodney Alcala was in the middle of an unstoppable murder spree when he competed on the show[/caption]
Alcala, seen in court in 2013, has been officially linked to seven murders, but detectives believe he could have over 100 victims[/caption]
Alcala’s disturbing crimes have resurfaced after his story was dramatized in Anna Kendrick’s upcoming Netflix film – Woman of the Hour.
In the movie, Kendrick plays Bradshaw, whose brush with danger is preserved in a now-disturbing dating show episode.
Bradshaw, who was a drama teacher, falls for Alacala after persuading him to do impressions of a “dirty old man” and quizzing him with suggestive questions.
When asked what his favorite time of day was, he said, “Nighttime is when it really gets good.”
At one point, Bradshaw says, “I am serving you for dinner. What are you called, and what do you look like?” before the killer responds, “I’m called the banana, and I look really good.”
“Peel me!” he exclaimed.
Bradshaw chose Alcala as her date, and the two happily stood arm in arm while they were awarded a free tennis lesson and a trip to the Magic Mountain amusement park.
However, the date never happened.
Bradshaw gave up her prize after telling producers that she had a creepy feeling about Alcala, the showrunners later revealed.
This is because, when they were in the green room after filming, he told her, “I always get my girl.”
“She said, ‘Ellen, I can’t go out with this guy,’” former producer Ellen Metzger told ABC News in 2021.
Bradshaw told her, “I can’t go out with this guy. There’s weird vibes that are coming off of him.
“He’s very strange. I am not comfortable.”
Metzger told the contestant it was OK and that she didn’t have to go on the date, potentially saving her life.
Bradshaw told producers that she had a creepy feeling about Alcala and called off the date[/caption]
The two smiled arm in arm as they were awarded free tennis lessons and a trip to an amusement park[/caption]
EERIE PHOTOGRAPHS
Alcala was introduced as a professional photographer on The Dating Game, but what producers didn’t know his career consisted of taking stomach-churning pictures of his victims after attacking them.
So far, the serial killer, who is now dead, has been linked to seven murders, but his vast portfolio with hundreds of pictures could be proof of more killings.
In fact, some detectives believe he may have killed up to 130 people, the Associated Press reported.
Alcala was born in Texas to a Mexican-American family and moved to California as a kid after his dad abandoned them.
Classmates in grade school considered him friendly and charming, but his behavior took a sharp turn after he joined the military at 17.
He got into disagreements with commanding officers and was disciplined for harassing women.
While serving in North Carolina, he escaped his post and hiked all the way across the country in what was later deemed a psychotic break.
He was discharged for medical reasons.
Who was Rodney Alcala?
RODNEY Alcala is one of America’s most notorious serial killers, and detectives are still uncovering terrifying details about his crimes.
Alcala was born to a Mexican-American family in 1943 in Texas.
His family moved back to Mexico, but his mother took them to Los Angeles after his father abandoned them.
Growing up, Alcala was well-liked by classmates, but he started having troubles when he joined the military at age 17.
Commanding officers described him as insubordinate and anti-social. He was punished several times for harassing women.
Alcala was eventually dismissed from the military for having a so-called breakdown, where he left his station to flee back to California.
His first crime took place in 1968 when he convinced Tali Shapiro, who was 8 at the time, to get in his car.
He then took her inside his home and raped her before escaping cops and fleeing to New York.
Alcala would serve time in prison for this assault and another before he was let out and embarked on a heartless killing spree.
He’s known to have killed at least 8 women, but detectives believe his victims could range in the hundreds.
HAUNTING ABUSE
Alcala found some of his victims by convincing them to get in his car so he could choke them unconscious and beat and sexually abuse them.
He would sometimes bring them in and out of consciousness so he could continue to torture them for his own sadistic pleasure.
Alcala’s first horrific crime came in 1968 when he kidnapped and violently raped 8-year-old Tali Shapiro while she was walking home from school.
Tali survived the attack thanks to a Good Samaritan who called the police, and she has no memory of the crime.
Alcala escaped the police and dodged them for years until he was caught in 1971 and sentenced for rape.
He served two years and was put away for another assault just two months after he was released.
SICK SPREE
After serving that sentence, he moved to California and started working as a typesetter for the Los Angeles Times.
By night, he would convince women, young girls, and teenage boys to pose nude for him in sexually explicit poses.
In 2010, cops released images from the dark portfolio to see if family members could help identify the subjects as they’re believed to be more of his victims.
Around 900 pictures couldn’t be released because the material was too sensitive.
Alcala’s reign of terror came to an end in 1979 after he was convicted of murdering 12-year-old Robin Samsoe.
That same year, prosecutors linked him to the killing of 21-year-old Jill Parenteau.
While behind bars, Alcala was convicted of murdering Cornelia Crilley in 1971, Jill Barcomb, Georgia Wixted, and Ellen Jane Hover in 1977, and Charlotte Lamb in 1978.
He died of natural causes in 2021.
Woman of the Hour is available to stream on Netflix from October 18.
Alcala, seen in one of his final booking photos, died of natural causes in 2021[/caption]
