PETITE Sam Smithson was on cloud nine after she was picked for a skydiving break on TV show Blind Date - but her spirits soon plummeted because her date wasn't down-to-earth enough.

Sam, 23, of Fern Gore Avenue, Accrington, and her blind date Alistair Jones took to the skies with the famous Red Devils after viewers saw them get together on Saturday. But Sam said she got more thrills when she was strapped to a parachute jumper than during the three days she spent with Alistair in Oxford.

Three times British judo champion Sam said: " I like my Northern lads but he was a softy from Lincoln. He behaved like a small child and he was a bit stuck-up.

"He went on about being a physiotherapist but I found out he was out of work and living off mummy and daddy.

"When we did the return show on Blind Date, I made a comment about him not having to work for a living. It sounded like I was having a go at physiotherapists, but that's the last thing I would do because the ones here in Accrington have been great with my judo injuries.

"On the date we got along okay but there was not a chance of romance."

Programme makers kept any mention of Sam's martial arts prowess out of the show, preferring to play on her part-time job as a fitness instructor at Hyndburn Sports Centre.

Sam, a student at St Martin's College, Lancaster, and former pupil of Mount Carmel High School is in her final year of study on a sports science course.

You can see how Sam and Alistair got on when they appear on Blind Date this Saturday. The show is on ITV at 7.15pm.

Sam is pictured above strapped in tandem to Red Devil Tim Skinner, and right, she is snapped with blind date Alistair Jones.

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