Share
20th February 2018
01:32pm GMT
Tonight's First Dates Ireland will see Jamie open up about being "queer-bashed" at the age of 16.
The 35-year-old tells his date Anthony about his terrifying and traumatic tale about coming out.
The restaurant manager told his date that "it wasn't all roses" coming out in his hometown of Wales.
"I came out at a time when it wasn’t the done thing to do. I got queer-bashed quite a few times as well. Just smile and laugh, always smile and laugh. Go ‘yeah, punch me again, hit me harder. What are you proving by doing it? It has taken seven of you to punch me in the face to prove you are a bigger man than me'.
“I used to stand there and laugh and ask them to hit me harder. Because in my head, if I am standing there laughing at you and asking you for more, you are not hurting me, I am just making you look stupid.
"It hurt the next morning but on a principle level and a mindset level, they achieved nothing by doing that and actually I could stand there and say: 'you didn’t really hurt me in the grand scheme of things. If anything it made me a lot stronger about who I am as a person'.”
First dates airs on February 20th on RTÉ 2 at 9:30pm.
