'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Netflix's latest thriller, Woman of the Hour, follows the infamous serial killer Rodney Alcala and his tryst with some of his victims like Cheryl Bradshaw. This movie, which also serves as Anna Kendrick's direcorial debut, follows Bradshaw (Kendrick), who becomes an acquaintance of the serial killer after coming in contact with him in a show called The Dating Game.
At the time, Bradshaw had no idea that Alcala had already murdered five women and soon, he would go on to murder more. But Cheryl Bradshaw narrowly avoided this fate in real life when she decided against going on a date with Rodney Alcala and informed the same to the coordinator of the show. So, in real life, she never went out with Alcala and had only met him during the taping of The Dating Game.
Trending
Anna Kendrick's character is a slightly fictionalized version of the real Cheryl Bradshaw and some of the events have also been altered in the movie, Woman of the Hour.
Why did the real Cheryl Bradshaw not go out with Rodney Alcala?
Unlike what was depicted in the movie, the real Cheryl Bradshaw didn't go on a date with Rodney Alcala. They met during the filming of The Dating Game, where the aspiring actress was presented with three eligible bachelors. Alcala was a part of this lineup.
After the selection, Cheryl reached out to Ellen Metzger, the contestant coordinator, expressing that she was not comfortable going out with Alcala. Metzger would later reveal to ABC's 20/20 about this incident:
"She [Cheryl] said, ‘Ellen, I can’t go out with this guy. There [are] weird vibes that are coming off of him. He’s very strange. I am not comfortable. Is that going to be a problem?"
As she was uncomfortable with this selection, no one coerced her to continue this, and hence Cheryl Bradshaw never went out with Alcala, perhaps avoiding a certain death in the process.
Following this rejection, Alcala went on to murder more women, which included 21-year-old Jill Marie Parenteau and 12-year-old Robin Christine Samsoe. A criminal profiler later claimed that perhaps Cheryl's rejection was a catalyst in Alcala's continuing killing spree after appearing on the show.
In Woman of the Hour, though, Cheryl does go on a date with the serial killer and lands in a situation where she needs a lot of luck to get out alive. This part of the story was changed for dramatic effect.
Where is the real Cheryl Bradshaw now?
Following this close encounter with Alcala, Cheryl, who was an aspiring actor at the time, decided not to stay in Los Angeles anymore. Soon after her appearance on the show, she decided to leave California to lead a private life and raise a family. Since then, she stayed out of the public eye and didn't discuss this encounter till 2012.
In 2012, she talked to the press for the first time about the encounter. She told The Sunday Telegraph:
"I started to feel ill. He [Rodney] was acting really creepy. I turned down his offer. I didn’t want to see him again,"
Her instincts saved her from a calamity, and she died later while with her family.
Woman of the Hour is now streaming on Netflix.
