Trivia

Serial murderer, Rodney Alcala was accepted as a contestant on The Dating Game in 1978. By then, he had already murdered at least two women in California and two others in New York. Host Jim Lange introduced him as a "successful photographer who got his start when his father found him in the darkroom at 13, fully developed. Between takes you might find him skydiving or motorcycling". Alcala won the contest, and a date with Cheryl Bradshaw, who subsequently refused to go out with him because she found him "creepy". Alcala killed at least three other woman after his appearance on The Dating Game. Rodney Alcala is currently on death row at San Quentin State Prison for the murders of at least 8, and as many as 120 women over the period of 9 years.

In the early 1970s, Michael Jackson appeared on the show. Roles were reversed; Jackson asked questions and picked a date from three eligible "bachelorettes".

Early in his career, Burt Reynolds appeared on the show as a contestant.

A then-unknown Phil Hartman once appeared on the show as one of the three competing bachelors.

Before hitting it big on Miami Vice (1984), Don Johnson appeared on the show as one of the three bachelors and was not chosen.