gloriad Won A Valentine's
Date With Joe Swash!

Lucky winner gloriad spills the beans about her celeb date

For Valentine's Day, most of us are lucky to get a bunch of flowers and some chocs - but gloriad got an altogether better treat. She won our Valentine's promotion to go for a swanky meal with EastEnders star and I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! winner Joe Swash. Talk about exclusive!

The envy of women all over the UK, we asked Gloria to reveal what her date with the king of the jungle on February 26th was like. How did she feel when she found out she'd be sharing a table for two with Joe?

"I didn't know whether or not I'd entered, so got a bit of a shock when I heard I'd won," she said. "When I told my son, he took the mick out of me, telling me he didn't want to see my name in the papers mixed up with Joe Swash!

But my children told me to go for it and that I deserved a nice meal out. My husband also told me to enjoy it - I think he knew I wouldn't run off with Joe!"

So, with her family excited to find out how the date would go, Gloria got her glad rags on and awaited her 888ladies courtesy car, which collected her from her home in the early evening.

When she arrived at the restaurant in Marylebone, west London, guess who she was greeted by - of course, our very own tommygntlmn! Gloria's judgment on cheeky Tommy will come as no surprise to anyone... "Tommy met me there before Joe arrived. He's a very nice guy - a bit of a ladies man!"

Then the big moment arrived, and in came Joe. He wore jeans, a waistcoat and scarf while Gloria wore a pretty gold and black dress that her husband bought her on their honeymoon in New York.

Gloria said that Joe was very easy to get along with and that they instantly clicked.

"Everybody wanted this prize, and I won it - plus I'm a huge EastEnders fan so I already like him," she said. "We chatted about all sorts - where I'd come from, my children. My family are musicians so we spoke about that, although I can't sing or play an instrument!

"Conversation flowed very easily - he's very down-to-earth and open, just like I imagined. Very much an EastEnders lad, and very similar to his character of Mickey. We spoke about his girlfriend Kara Tointon [who plays Dawn in Eastenders] and about his little boy from a previous relationship."

We have no idea how they found the time to eat, with all this great conversation going on! But luckily they made the best of the delicious food on offer - they both had steak, then Gloria had a sweet dessert and Joe had a cheeseboard.

Gloria also had the chance to pull his leg a little: "I was teasing him about older women and about Esther Ranzten when they were in the jungle together. He assured me that nothing happened and he thought she was a lovely lady, but I was embarrassing him! He was lovely, bless him, and I had a lovely time."

Certainly sounds like it was a very special night to remember! We wish we had been the lucky ones to be charmed by Mr Swash...

So after all the excitement of hearing about her date, we wanted to find out more about why Gloria loves 888ladies. She joined in the summer last year and says that the friendliness of the site is one of the best things about it.

"I always speak to other players to discuss problems, say hello and chat in general," she said. "I went to Australia for a couple of months before Christmas to visit my ill sister, and when I came back, all the 888ladies remembered and asked me how I was. I'm a bit of a quiet person but I do have a laugh when the jokes come up. I do come up with some myself if my husband is behind me giving me ideas!"

Gloria - AKA gloriad - is part of the 3 Mad Cows team along with rmnnurse and lostnomad. As for her favourite chat hosts?  She said Anais, Christian and Josh are the ones she has most fun with. "I'm always telling Josh off - he's always goes 'whoop whoop' and that's not what you want to hear when you're losing!"

Unfortunately Gloria hasn't won anything else yet, but hopefully the date with Joe will be the start of a run of good luck. Fingers crossed for her!

Her final thought? "I love 888ladies as everyone is so friendly. I love everything about it and I would be on it every day if I could!"