Warning! This post contains spoilers for Woman of the Hour.

Since Rodney Alcala's Dating Game appearance plays a crucial role in driving the primary narrative in Anna Kendrick's directorial debut, Woman of the Hour has been widely appreciated by critics and even boasts an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 91%. One of the biggest reasons behind the movie's acclaim is that, instead of unfolding like a typical true crime drama, it attempts to focus more on the central serial killer's victims' perspective.

Many have also appreciated how the film does not shy away from reimagining several aspects of the real-life incidents surrounding Rodney Alcala's chilling appearance in The Dating Game makes up a significant chunk of the movie's overarching narrative, it is worth examining how much it differs from the real episode of the game show.

The Questions Cheryl Asks The Bachelors Are Different In Woman Of The Hour

Even The Way The Bachelor's Responded Was Significantly Different

In Woman of the Hour, Anna Kendrick's Sheryl gets a bunch of questions on a cue card from the show's executives. She uses the cue cards to ask her first few questions, with the opening one being: "We're in a drama class, and it is the big audition. You're a nerdy schoolboy asking me out on a date...take it away." In the real Dating Game episode, Cheryl Bradshaw's first question was: "What's your best time?" Since Rodney Alcala was Bachelor Number 1 in the real game show, he was the first to answer the questions.

"The best time is at night... Nighttime," he responded to Bradshaw's opening question. The Anna Kendrick true story thriller also changes almost every other question Cheryl Bradshaw originally asked the bachelors. For obvious reasons, this, in turn, changes how the three bachelors answer them in the film. Although Rodney Alcala's early responses are a little strange in the movie, he mostly sells himself as a charming man who deserves to go on a date with Sheryl. A close look at the real Alcala's answers, however, makes reality creepier than the movie's fictional .

Rodney's Responses Are Even More Concerning In Real Life Than Woman Of The Hour

Alcala Seemed Creepy From The Beginning In The Real Game Show

During the Dating Game episode that featured Alcala, bachelorette Cheryl Bradshaw also asked another question: “I’m serving you for dinner. What are you called and what do you look like?” Alcala responded to this by saying, “I’m called the banana and I look good.” When Bradshaw asked him to be more descriptive, he said, "Peel me," which made th audiences roar with laughter. Recalling these moments from the show, The Dating Game's producer, David Greenfield, said that the answers seemed "solid" for the show at the time but are terrifying in retrospect.

One of Rodney Alcala's competitors from the episode, Armand Cerami, also revealed that even the live audience was not pleased with the serial killer's answers. “The people [in the audience] were actually snickering and even low-murmuring boos as to his answers,” he said (via Rolling Stone). These real life s highlight how, unlike the version of Alcala in Woman of the Hour, the real killer displayed some concerning behaviors even during his appearance in The Dating Game.