Woman of the Hour: why the real Sheryl Bradshaw refused date with serial killer Rodney Alcala
Woman of the Hour is a huge hit on Netflix. The movie is based on the true story of the 'Dating Game Killer' Rodney Alcala, a serial killer convicted of murdering eight people – with the true number of his victims unknown, and believed to be as high as 130.
Despite being reported to the police on several occasions and having a criminal record, Alcala was able to appear on the popular 1970s show The Dating Game, where three bachelors stood behind a screen while a bachelorette asked them questions – the winner earning a date.
While in the movie Sheryl goes for a drink with Rodney after the taping, only to sense something was wrong, managing to narrowly escape him while he followed her to her car – in reality, Sheryl (actually spelled Cheryl, but changed for the Netflix film) refused to go on the date altogether after realising there was something off about him.
A former homicide prosecutor who worked on the case, and served as a consultant on the movie, discussed Cheryl's decision, telling The Guardian: “If you watch the YouTube clips, where he comes around the partition and Cheryl Bradshaw looks at him, there’s a moment in her eyes where you can see she’s being polite, but she refused to go on the date, and that probably saved her life.”
The contestant coordinator at the time, Ellen Metzger, also discussed Cheryl’s refusal, telling ABC News: “She said, ‘Ellen, I can’t go out with this guy. There’s weird vibes coming off him. He’s very strange. I’m not comfortable. Is that going to be a problem?’ And of course, I said, ‘No.’”
Ellen's husband, Mike Metzger, served as an executive producer on the show and resisted casting Alcala. “No darn way was this guy going to be on my show because I thought he had a strange personality,” he told 20/20. “He had a mystique about him that I found uncomfortable.”
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Cheryl previously opened up about deciding not to go on the date – free tennis lessons and a trip to Magic Mountain – telling The Sunday Telegraph in 2012: “I started to feel ill. He was acting really creepy. I didn’t want to see him again.”
Where is Cheryl Bradshaw now?
According to Anna Kendrick, Cheryl – who moved away from LA and started a family after her time on The Dating Game – sadly passed away before production began. Speaking about what she would have liked to ask her, Anna told Today: “I would ask her what it felt like for her to trust herself.”
Speaking about the portrayal of the other victims in the movie, she added: “I think that it's tricky because I do want it to give the message that one should listen to one's gut. But at the same time, sometimes it’s not as simple as that. I think there was a point where one of the producers was asking if there should be some really clever way that [Bradshaw] outsmarts or outwits Rodney, and that’s why she survives.
“And I was like, ‘I think that that would do a disservice to the other women who were no less intelligent than her, and that sometimes it’s a combination of trusting your gut, but sometimes it’s too late for that.’”
