People have been looking for love on television for decades. And while some experiences have faded over time, some memories truly last. Such is the case with Anita Stevenson and Mitch Slater, who grew up on opposite coasts and were both in their early 20s when they first met on Love affair in 1983.
Slater found himself in Los Angeles, working as a production assistant on an early reality TV show when he saw an ad for a production looking for assistants who were young people between the ages of 18 and 24.
Dressed in a suit and ready for a job interview, Slater arrived at an open call to perform, only to find he was staffed. However, they were looking for talents to participate in the show, the so-called dating show Love affair.
“So they asked me a bunch of questions about who I am and what I’m looking for in a partner. ‘What’s your idea of a perfect marriage? Do you want to have kids?’ All those things and honestly, I answered and I didn’t think about it,” he tells PEOPLE. “I walked out of there and I was like, ‘Oh my God, what a waste of a day,’ you know? Like I thought it was a job interview.”
For Anita Stevenson, appearing on the show was the result of a challenge from her work colleagues. “I was working at a jewelry store in Santa Monica. The producers were walking around the mall trying to get people to join the show. Some of the salespeople told them, ‘We have a girl, but she’s not here today. She’d be perfect.’ ‘ They left their business card, and when I came to work the next day, they said, ‘We challenge you to this,’” she tells PEOPLE.
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Stevenson was first brought to the show as one of three options for the second bachelor. She was chosen by a contestant, but “polar opposite schedules” prevented them from living it up.
“The production girls called me back. I walked into the studio and they said, ‘We just love your energy,’ and they decided they wanted me to be the contestant who chooses between three people. So we went through some biographies and I don’t remember all the details, but I remember seeing Mitch’s biography,” she shares.
Love affair he gave the contestant and the audience the opportunity to choose the best of the three presented suitors. The contestant would first go on a date of their choice and then return to repeat the experience. If they don’t guess, the audience’s choice would get the chance.
As Stevenson explains, Slater was not her first choice. She chose a Harvard graduate, noting that she had never had the chance to date one and didn’t know she would again.
“I knew in my mind that the audience would choose [Slater] because we had so much in common,” she explains, noting that they both mentioned that they were baseball fans who really wanted families in the future.
Stevenson called Slater a week before Thanksgiving 1983.
“She says, ‘Hey, I’m Anita. 57% of the audience thinks we should go on a date.’ I ask myself: ‘What are you talking about?’ She asked me if I was watching Love affair and I told her what happened and how nothing came of it. And she said, ‘Well, actually, it is. You were one of three guys I could choose from.’ ”
Mitch Slater in 1983.
Mitch Slater
As for the crowd’s choice, Slater was happy to give it a chance for a night out. “I was watching it and I was like, ‘Oh, she’s cute. I’ve got nothing going on this weekend. What the hell?’ We talked a little and became close about sports.”
To set the date, Slater called in his friend Larry King for a favor to make the night special.
“I called Larry and said, ‘Hey, I just got picked to be on this show and the girl really likes sports.’ I noticed that the Rangers and the Kings were playing, and this was when Wayne Gretzky had just signed with the Kings, so I said, ‘Larry, can you get me some good seats?’ And he said: ‘I know what, I’ll get you a table in Palma.’ It was impressive, there were perfect spots on the center ice.
Stevenson recalls, “We went to The Palm and had a big steak and lobster. It was a fancy place. And then he took me to my first live hockey event. I’m a big sports fan, but he’d never been to an NHL game. It was it’s a really great experience.
The two had a lot to talk about, though Slater admits that Stevenson was “the complete opposite of anyone I’ve ever dated, or even known.”
“She was the least pretentious. She wasn’t what you’d think of an LA girl. She was really decent, a free spirit who wasn’t trapped in that other world,” he says. “And here I was trying to impress her. I think she was happy to go to a hockey game and a nice dinner and meet a normal guy.”
“It was a real shot in the arm, but in many ways, that’s what internet dating is like. You learn what you can learn in a limited situation.” The two went on several dates over the course of several months before going their separate ways.
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Mitch Slater and Anita Stevenson on ‘Love Affair’ in 1983.
Produced by Eric Lieber
“He was super awesome. At the time, I was 23, I could have steamrolled the guy. But I felt like he was just the salt of the earth and I wasn’t going to do it,” Stevenson recalls.
When the show aired, Slater remembers getting phone calls from family and friends about his participation.
“The show aired around Thanksgiving. The Friday after Thanksgiving is a big day for television. It’s a big day for shopping, but everybody’s at home with their families and whatever. It’s the number one entertainment show on TV. I’d tie it with Bachelor today. Everyone I’ve ever met called me — people from high school who joked, ‘How bad is it in LA that you’re dating on national TV?’ And I told them, it came out of the blue.”
“I was a great bartender and I was making good money because I love people and I love knowing about their lives, so it was easy to try it out for me. Plus, I got to be on TV,” she says. Looking back, he believes, “There was still a novelty to it back then. It’s something that’s fun and different and unique and also escapist. And you know what? There wasn’t much to do.”
Although the relationship never materialized, Slater says of Stevenson, “She was full of life, full of fun. I really enjoyed the four or five times we went out. We had a great time together. We were laughing. Now I share a clip on Facebook from time to time. It became a joke, but I’m proud of it.”
The two reconnected in the early days of Facebook and have been friends ever since.” I saw the request and I was like, ‘Oh my God, that’s my Love affair type!’ I never thought about other guys. I never looked for them, I have no idea where they are. Mitch was very impressive, a really great guy,” she says, adding, “I was happy to have the opportunity, you know, just to tell him a little more about my journey and what I’ve been through and to apologize for what happened. happened when we were young.”
“If I had to go back and do it all over again, I would go right back,” she continues. “There was nothing wrong with that. We got to meet Chuck Woolery! But yeah, I’d do it all over again if I met Mitch.”
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Source: HIS Education