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A First Dates participant who gifts free homemade erotic candles to people says her goal is “to put smiles on faces”.

Sandra Samuels-Allen spends her free time making wax workings of penises – but sadly her date on the long-running Channel 4 show was not impressed.

The 62-year-old, from Rochester, began her unique hobby during lockdown after questioning how to get away from her laptop.

She told KentOnline: “I love burning candles, so I thought why not learn the science behind them? It took about three months to learn how to make a candle.

“I have this creative mind, so I thought, what do people want? So I tried some moulds out.”

The mum-of-one began making candles in the shape of female and male torsos.

She added: “After making them I thought ‘hmm, they must have penis-shaped moulds as well’.

“So I went online, bought the moulds, and then started making them. Everybody said ‘oh, I need that as a gift!’.

“This all happened in lockdown when people needed something for their mental well-being, something to make them laugh and smile.

“So I'm now renowned for these erotic candles. Everybody wants something to spice their lives up so my candles are a little bit different.”

The rail industry finance worker makes each phallus-shaped candle differently by using different colour wax.

She explained: “When you look at them, you want to light them because they look very inviting to burn.

“I give them as presents, obviously to the appropriate people that I think would like them.

“I like to make people smile. But then again, I'm quite random. I'm quite quirky.

“I put smiles on people's faces and obviously, it helps me to smile as well. So if they're laughing, I'm laughing.”

Despite her saucy hobby Sandra, who also runs the Walking Workout With A Difference group in Medway, has been living the single life.

In an effort to change that she applied, and was featured, on First Dates, a Channel 4 show hosted by Fred Sirieix and Merlin Griffiths, that sees singletons go on blind dates and is now in its 21st season.

Speaking of the experience, Sandra said: “First Dates was fantastic, I highly recommend it because no one knows what happens behind the scenes.

“When I did an audition they asked me what my hobby was, so I told them not knowing that I had to produce one of my penis candles when I did the first stint of it.

“I thought ‘oh, they're not going to use this’ but obviously, they did.

“When I turned up on my date, I gave Merlin a female torso candle and he loved it.

“That was the highlight of the conversation and then Merlin came over, while I was on my date, and he said, thank you very much for the candle.”

It was at this point that Sandra’s date, 60-year-old part-time DJ, Lance, questioned what the host was on about.

Sandra said: “My date wasn't impressed, to be honest with you. But, each to their own!

“After being on first dates I went viral and people have been asking me if I could make them a candle. Some of them were even work colleagues.

“When I give them as gifts people go ‘oh’ and are all flustered.

“They say ‘this is good, you can see all the details’ and I say ‘yes, especially when you burn it’.

“It’s even more exciting when you burn them. People are quite taken aback by it.

“They shy away from the erotic side of it all but we are humans, aren't we? So we are going to have an erotic side to us and it's how we embrace it.”

Sandra didn’t find love through her television appearance but says this hasn’t put her off.

She added: “I'm a woman in my 60s. I do health and fitness, I keep myself as healthy as I can be and I have this creative mind.

“Sadly, my date wasn't for me. But that's how things are and I was living my best life that day.

“I'm still searching for love and it's not easy. I think sometimes when you get older as well, it's a little bit harder because you've done all the life experience stuff so you want someone who is good to go.

“I would say to anybody looking to find love to go out there.

“There is a person out there for everybody, but you’ve just got to dig deep and kiss a few frogs to get there.”

Sandra’s episode featured on the latest series of First Dates which aired on Channel 4 and is available to watch on demand on its streaming platform now.