Horrifying true story behind photo of man smiling as he won dating game show as Netflix thriller drops today

Netflix's latest thriller tells the true story behind a chilling photo of a man who won a dating gameshow in the 70s.

Back in 1978, Cheryl Bradshaw turned to matchmaking series The Dating Game in her search for love, and it seemed like she'd found just that when she selected 'bachelor number one' from a list of eligible men.

However, she would soon come to realise she'd made a grave mistake.

Cheryl Bradshaw met Rodney Alcala on The Dating Game in 1978 (American Broadcasting Company)

You see, the man she'd selected for a date was serial killer Rodney Alcala, who has since been dubbed as 'The Dating Game Killer'.

Alcala was part-way through a crime spree when he appeared on the show, having raped and assaulted multiple people, including an eight-year-old girl, and committed several murders.

Then, in 1978, he appeared on The Dating Game, where he was introduced as a photographer, and ended up winning a date with Bradshaw.

After his TV appearance, Alcala would go on to commit at least three other murders, before being arrested on 24 July, 1979 and being sentenced to death.

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

Netflix's latest true crime thriller Woman of the Hour, which was released on the streaming platform today (18 October), tells the story of Alcala's victims and the lives he brutally ended.

Directed by Anna Kendrick, who also stars as Cheryl Bradshaw, the film's synopsis on IMDB reads: "Cheryl Bradshaw, a single woman looking for a suitor on a hit 1970s TV show, chooses charming bachelor Rodney Alcala, unaware that, behind the man's gentle facade, he hides a deadly secret."

In a trailer released last month, we can see Bradshaw on a date with Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) following their TV appearance and things aren't going well.

When Rodney asks for another round of drinks, she shakes her head at the bar while he's looking away.

Later on outside the bar, he asks for her number which she says she's already given him, but when he asks her to say it out loud, it's clear the number was fake.

"I started to feel ill," Bradshaw would later tell the Sydney Telegraph in 2012 of her meeting with Alcala. "He was acting really creepy. I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again."

You can watch Woman of the Hour on Netflix now.