Interview with Paul Bardetta: Sydney's Luckiest Bachelor

Several weeks ago, Paul Bardetta, a single 26 year old advertising executive, undertook the Partner4Real challenge: live in a glass and steel house for a week under the scrutiny of 24/7 cameras, while dating 20 women to find a lovely lady to accompany him on a trip to Paris.

Sound a bit farfetched? It's not that different from a reality dating show, but instead of it being spaced over a couple of months, Partner4Real made it last only one week long. As well, all of the single ladies were chosen from the Partner4Real site, including the "winning" 22 year old gal, Vanessa Ropa.

Last week I had the opportunity to speak with Paul about his week-long dating experience, and ask him some questions regarding what he learned and whether or not he'd do it again.

Bonny: I understand that you chose all of your 20 dates from the list of women available on the Partner4Real dating site. What was your criteria for a date? Did your criteria change as the week progressed?

Paul: Yes, I chose the women from Partner4Real. I was looking for real, genuine women. A woman who had a great sense of humour, great smile and someone that I thought I would click with. It did help that there was an abundance of attractive women to choose from also. J I don’t think that my criteria changed.

Bonny: Tell me what your dates were like. Were they like a 'normal' date? How long did they last? What did you do?

Paul: The dates were all lovely. The conversation was flowing as much as the champagne! The dates were very ‘normal’, besides the obvious web cams everywhere. The dates lasted for an hour and we basically sat at the table and conversed for the majority of the time.

Bonny: What was the most memorable thing that happened on one of your dates, and why? What about embarrassing moments?

Paul: There were the occasional overzealous fans outside watching. Coming up to the glass window and screaming ‘interesting’ remarks. Meeting Simone, who had the very intriguing day job as a ‘Professional Clown’. Obviously meeting Vanessa for the first time, we get along so well and I know Paris will be amazing.

I'll pick up the rest of this interview tomorrow, since it's a fairly long read. In the meantime readers, I ask you: would you participate in a similar event to meet new people?