AN ENGLISH teacher is hoping an appearance on national television will help his love life.

Summertown resident Louis Gill will be featuring on the hit TV show First Dates this evening, after being shortlisted from a total of 16,000 candidates from across the country.

The 26-year-old, who teaches English as a second language but is currently looking for work, applied to appear on the show when he was filling in job applications.

He said: “I was applying for jobs and an advert came up for First Dates and I though it would be something different to apply for.

“Once I applied they called me up for a camera interview last November.”

After meeting the producers, the Leeds University graduate went on dates at the First Dates restaurant in London.

Mr Gill said one of the reasons he chose to go onto the show was that he has not had a long-term girlfriend in the past five years and has had trouble meeting people in Oxford.

He added: “As I’m trying to find work, I often don’t know where I’m going to be within three months and young people in the city aren’t really around for long either. It’s the nature of a university town, it becomes quite transient.”

Mr Gill will feature on tonight’s episode of First Dates which goes out at 10pm on Channel 4.