ANYONE who has ever cringed at their parents' taste should spare a thought for Louise Butler.

Allowing Mum and Dad to select you a dishy date on national television should socially scare any teenager - but the 19-year -old had sufficient faith in hers to star alongside them in the debut show of a new dating series Meet My Folks.

The show is BBC 1's answer to Blind Date - suffering heavily from the departure of Cilla Black - and offers a twist to the conventional dating game.

Parents pick the partner who will accompany their offspring on a luxury holiday and the potential dates are put through their paces over a weekend with the parents and their son/daughter. while being subjected to humiliating and stamina-testing situations.

The Butler family, of East Lynn Gardens, Caerleon, was approached by talent scouts in a local restaurant and, after two interviews, selected to appear in one of the 12 shows screened this summer.

Louise's parents Clifford, 51, a manager at Cable and Wireless and art student Eileen, 46, needed no persuading to appear on the prime time show. Mother of four Eileen said: "It was a great experience."

The three boys - all from London - endured various horrors over the three days to help Cliff and Eileen's process of elimination. Ex-girlfriends popped in unexpectedly for breakfast and Olympian gym performances were demanded at 6am after a heavy night on the town with Cliff.

A lie detector test including toe-curling questions such as "Do you like us?" and "Do you still have feelings for your ex-girlfriend?"

Eileen said: "Louise didn't fall in love with anybody." Louise, a business student at UWIC, said: "I think my parents handled it really well - even though we disagreed on the first person they voted off.

"All the boys were nice and I knew exactly which one they would pick right from the beginning.

"I would never be embarrassed by my parents - they're really cool," she added.

Meet My Folks is screened on Saturday at 6.15pm.