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

In 1978, Cheryl Bradshaw appeared on a dating show. The dating game while she was looking for love.

She would later learn that the man she chose to date Rodney Alcala was actually a notorious serial killer.

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

Rodney Alcala was midway through 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 earning a date with Bradshaw.

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

At the end of question period, she chose “Bachelor Number One” – aka Alcala – to accompany her on an all-expenses-paid date.

As Bradshaw made his choice, the audience applauded and Alcala flashed a wide smile.

The pair then met face to face and kissed, before being told they would go to tennis and a theme park together.

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

But a scary backstage encounter led Bradshaw to ultimately decline the date with Alcala, a decision that may have prevented her from becoming his next victim.

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

At the time, she reportedly called producer Ellen Metzger and said, “There are some strange vibes coming off him. He’s very strange. I’m not comfortable. Is this going to be a problem?”

Fortunately, Metzger agreed and everything was called off.

Alcala’s chilling crimes are told in Netflix’s Woman of the House (Netflix)

After its appearance on The dating gameAlcala would commit at least three other murders before being arrested on July 24, 1979 and sentenced to death.

The killer died of natural causes in 2021, 42 years to the day after his arrest, and has since been linked to approximately 130 other unsolved cases.

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

Brian Tallerico of RogerEbert.com called the film “a confidently made thriller that is not only a true crime story, but an exposure of systemic misogyny and how it encourages violence.”