Before The Bachelor had contestants tearfully vying for roses and Instagram sponsorships, there was The Dating Game—a delightfully awkward TV show where women tried to find Mr. Right by asking loaded questions to three bachelors hidden behind a wall. The show gave us plenty of cringeworthy pickup lines, polyester suits, and the occasional raging psychopath.

And we don’t mean “psychopath” in the fun, rom-com kind of way most of the girls in our high school referred to us when explaining why they wouldn’t accept our invitation to go to the Prom. We’re talking bona fide serial killer with a body count. This isn’t a rejected plot for a Tim Burton movie; it’s actual history.

Buckle up as we peel back the story of how Rodney Alcala—a man who murdered at least eight people—ended up charming his way onto national television… and winning.

He Seemed Like Such a Nice Boy…

Rodney Alcala was born August 23, 1943, in San Antonio, Texas, and grew up in Los Angeles. He was smart, talented, and—on the surface—about as threatening as a puppy in a bowtie. But don’t be fooled. That bowtie was hiding a noose.

At 17, Alcala joined the Army. It didn’t take long for red flags to start flapping. He was court-martialed for going AWOL during what was later diagnosed as a nervous breakdown and was ultimately discharged with a diagnosis of antisocial personality disorder. Spoiler alert: that diagnosis would turn out to be more of a preview than a footnote.

In 1968, Alcala was seen luring 8-year-old Tali Shapiro into his Hollywood apartment. Police arrived just in time to save her from a horrific assault involving a steel bar. Alcala, however, fled the scene and vanished into the ether—or, more precisely, to New York, where he enrolled in film school under the alias “John Berger.” His professor was Roman Polanski. Because this story just couldn’t get any creepier without bringing in a man who fled the country to dodge sex crime charges. Oh wait—yes it can!

Tag Team of Terror

While studying at NYU, Alcala got a job at Blue Cross Blue Shield, where he worked alongside Richard Cottingham. In case Cottingham’s name hasn’t come up recently at your dinner table, he earned the nicknames “Torso Killer” and “Times Square Ripper.” He was convicted of 18 murders, but he told a journalist that he killed more than 80 women in what he described as “perfect murders.”

So by way of recap, thus far Rodney Alcala has been diagnosed with a severe personality disorder; has studied under a man who had to flee the country to avoid prosecution for multiple sex crimes; and worked alongside one of the most notorious serial killers in U.S. history. You truly couldn’t make this stuff up unless you were writing a macabre buddy comedy called Human Resources Regretful Decisions: The County Morgue Files.

The only thing that could have made this story more surreal is if he had teamed up with Charles Manson to write a hit song. But then again, The Beach Boys had already beaten him to that.

The Body Count Begins

In 1971, Alcala murdered Cornelia Crilley, a flight attendant in Manhattan. Her case went unsolved for four decades. Meanwhile, Alcala made the FBI’s Most Wanted list for his attack on Tali Shapiro. He was arrested and extradited to California. Unfortunately, Shapiro’s mother wouldn’t allow her daughter to testify, so Alcala was convicted of a lesser charge. He was sentenced to three years but only served 17 months.

It didn’t take Alcala long to get back in the swing of things. Eight weeks after his release, he assaulted another girl. Again, he served a light sentence. When he was released, he requested permission to move to New York. His parole officer, apparently thinking Alcala had learned his lesson (or perhaps just wanted to hand this ticking time bomb off to someone else), approved the request.

In 1976, now relocated to New York, Alcala hadn’t even unpacked all of his moving boxes yet before he picked up where he left off. He added another to his growing body count by murdering Ellen Jane Hover, the goddaughter of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr.

Smile! You’re on Creepy Camera

Returning to Los Angeles, Alcala reinvented himself as a “fashion photographer.” That’s just a fancy way of saying that he conned hundreds of men, women, and minors into posing nude. Many of the people in these photos are still unidentified. Some are believed to be victims. When asked about the minors, Alcala claimed their parents had hired him. Which is not only wildly illegal, but also raises the horrifying question: who are these parents, and can we indict them, too?

And Now… a Romantic Interlude with a Serial Killer

Despite his deeply disturbing résumé, Rodney Alcala somehow landed a spot on The Dating Game. The episode aired on September 13, 1978. Host Jim Lange introduced him as a successful photographer who “got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at age 13—fully developed.” That’s the kind of joke that hits differently when you know he’s a deeply demented pervert who has already killed multiple people.

Alcala was Bachelor Number One. The bachelorette was Cheryl Bradshaw. Alcala was at the top of his charm game. When Bradshaw asked him what kind of food he would be, Alcala replied, “I’m called the banana, and I look really good… peel me.” This apparently passed for flirtation in the ‘70s. Between this and the leisure suits, it’s probably best that we just forget about that decade.

As the show drew to a close, Bradshaw had to make her decision. Which of the charming young men would she select for an all-expense paid dream date? You already know the answer. In what nearly became the absolute worst decision of her entire life, Bradshaw chose Rodney Alcala.

Fortunately, after the show, when Bradshaw got to meet Alcala face-to-face, she got the heebie-jeebies strong enough to ghost him before ghosting was even a thing. This decision overruled her earlier momentous lapse of judgment and probably saved her life.

We can only imagine how the other two contestants — the guys who presumably were not homicidal sociopaths — felt when they found out that they were passed over in favor of a serial killer. They likely had the same types of conversations with each other that those of us on the Chess Club used to have about what all the girls could possibly see in the dumb jocks they chose over us.

From Television to Total Mayhem

Alcala didn’t take rejection well. Between June 1978 and June 1979, he killed at least four more women and abducted a 15-year-old girl who managed to escape. That same month, he murdered 12-year-old Robin Samsoe, a ballet student walking home from class.

Rodney Alcala was finally arrested in July 1979 — ten months after his appearance on The Dating Game aired. His trials would span decades. His first conviction in 1980 was overturned. So was the second one in 1986. By the time prosecutors were preparing for trial #3, DNA evidence linked him to four additional murders. In 2010, he represented himself at trial. It was actually more entertaining than his Dating Game appearance.

Alcala acted as both attorney and witness, interrogating himself in a fake deep voice and calling himself “Mr. Alcala.” He played clips from his Dating Game episode. He made the jury listen to Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant.” It was basically a one-man theater production called How Not to Avoid the Death Penalty and graphically illustrated the adage that a man who represents himself in court has a fool for a client.

He was convicted again. And again. In 2011, he finally pleaded guilty to the murders of Cornelia Crilley and Ellen Jane Hover. He died in prison in 2021 at the age of 77, thus earning his title as the worst contestant in the history of televised dating.

Final Rose Denied

Rodney Alcala’s story offers a lesson for all of you lonely hearts who are tempted to hastily swipe right at every flashy smile. There’s a reason most serial killers are successful, and it’s because they are able to use charm to temporarily obscure the dark side of their intentions.

As Rodney Alcala reminds us, evil can wear a charming smile and an ugly polyester suit. It also proves that maybe—just maybe—background checks should be part of casting calls for dating shows. Or, you know, society in general.

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