We’re sure that you don’t need us to tell you that Channel 4’s First Dates and HBO’s Game of Thrones are two very, very different shows. The former is aimed squarely at our love of eavesdropping and insatiable appetite for bad dating stories, as well as that sneaky part of us rooting for a ‘happy ever after’.
The latter, meanwhile, is less about feel-good romance, more about political intrigue, medieval warfare, the shuffling undead, incest, dragons, human sacrifice, rape, genital mutilation, and the like. We guess you could say that it deals primarily in unhappy ever afters.
Yet, despite their differences, these shows have two things in common: firstly, that they draw in a lot of viewers each week. Secondly, George Beattie has appeared in both.
Don’t remember Beattie? Let us jog your memory: he was the bearded farmer who dug himself an enormous hole on the last season of First Dates Ireland when he loudly declared that women are better at making sandwiches than men.
Because, yes, your gender really can determine how well you can slice and butter bread.
Unsurprisingly, Beattie didn’t win himself all too many fans with that appearance – although plenty of deli staff appreciated his positive comments about their hard work.
However we doubt even the most eagle-eyed First Dates fan would have spotted the Wicklow farmer in the seventh season finale of Game of Thrones.
Speaking to independent.ie, Beattie explained that he has always dreamed of starring in Game of Thrones (haven’t we all?) and so leapt at the chance to appear in the HBO drama when an extra pulled out at the last minute.
“My friend works on the show and I'd been pestering him for months for a part and I finally got the chance when an extra pulled out at the last minute,” he said, revealing that he actually made his drama debut during the show’s biggest #girlpower moment of the series.
The scene is the one in which Sansa and Arya turn the tables on Littlefinger and basically defeat the patriarchy.
Surprised? Us too, Emilia.
Watch the scene below; if you look closely at the Stark guards, you’ll see Beattie standing amongst them all, silently cheering on Ned Stark’s daughters as they finally bring Lord Baelish to justice.
While Beattie annoyed First Dates fans everywhere with his awful sandwich jokes, he made sure to keep Game of Thrones fans happy by ensuring he didn’t leak any spoilers whatsoever.
“Oh my God,” he said, admitting he found it tough to keep his mouth shut. “I got to see so much [before the show aired]. I knew that Arya had made it back to Winterfell. I knew that Littlefinger was going to die.
“But they make you sign disclaimers where you practically sign your life away.”
And, while he still “gets the life abused out of me” whenever he visits a deli, Beattie has learned a hard lesson from his failed date with Amanda and stripped the misogynistic jokes from his repertoire.
We suppose he had to, really: if he’d said anything about women being better at household tasks than men in the presence of Arya Stark, we have a feeling he might have gone the same way as our dearly departed Littlefinger.
Images: HBO
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