(This story was originally written and recorded for Retrocast #40, released on February 26, 2026.)

When I was a kid, one of my favorite TV shows was The Dating Game. And if you’re old enough, you probably remember it very well. Basically, a single bachelorette or sometimes a bachelor would ask a series of questions to three hidden contestants of the opposite sex. Then, after all the questioning was done, they would choose the one that they wanted to go out on a date with.

Some of those on the show would go on to fame and fortune. (Plus, some of them were famous already when they were on the show.) That includes Farah Fawcett, Sally Field, Steve Martin, Michael Jackson, Tom Selleck, and so on.

But there were those that didn’t go quite as well. In particular, the most famous is probably serial killer Rodney Alcala, who appeared on the show in 1978, and he may have killed in excess of 100 people.

Well, I’m going to add one lesser-known incident to that list of those that didn’t go well. It’s a story of 26-year-old Rock Island, Illinois resident James A. Shelton, who was one of the three bachelors trying to convince a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Rams to select him for a date.

That episode was filmed in Hollywood on September 13, 1978 (could this be the same date as Rodney Alcala was on the show???) and was broadcast on WQAD TV—which served the Quad Cities region of Illinois and Iowa—on November 6th of that year.

Watching that day was a former employee of a Davenport, Iowa correctional facility who recognized Shelton, who was using his real name on the show.  Shelton was an inmate who had escaped from a minimum security facility nearly 10 months prior, on November 4, 1977. It turns out that Shelton had been there less than a month for theft of goods he had stolen from a department store where he had been employed at.

Anyway, that former employee quickly contacted officials at the correctional center, and then they contacted the TV station so they could get a look at the videotape. They needed to make sure he really was the guy they were looking for.

R.D. Duncan, who was the director of the facility, told the De Moines Register:

“I couldn’t hardly believe it. That’s why I wanted to check it out to make sure it was the right person. And he was.”

 It definitely was the right man, but what was interesting was that he portrayed himself as a clothing designer from Chicago. In reality, the closest Shelton ever got to working in the clothing industry was when he worked for the Singer Sewing Machine Company. Just coincidentally, one of the bachelors who was sitting next to Shelton on the show was a probation officer.

Anyway, police in California were alerted to keep a lookout for Shelton, but they were unsuccessful.

About five weeks later, in early December, Shelton contacted his Davenport lawyer, a guy named Doren Shifley, and he expressed his desire to turn himself in. He also told Shifley that, in addition to appearing on The Dating Game, he had also made two appearances on The Gong Show, but those had yet to be broadcast in Davenport. (Side Note: both those shows were the brainchild of the late Chuck Barris.)

Finally, on Monday, December 11, 1978, attorney Shifley met his client as he stepped off a plane at the Des Moines municipal airport.

But before turning himself over to authorities, Shelton agreed to an interview with the Quad City Times.

He told them, “I knew that when I used my actual name and people saw my face, I would be recognized, but I didn’t know it would be this soon.”

He added: “It was inevitable I was coming back. I taped the show a while ago. I thought that by the time it was aired here, I would be making preparations to come back. It just aired too soon.”

As to why he left the correctional facility in the first place, he partly blamed it on the weather.

“It was getting cold here, so it’s inevitable that I go to California. It was 98° in LA and 27° here.

“With four months left on a one-year probation, it was kind of stupid to leave.”

On Wednesday, December 20, 1978, Shelton was once again back in a courtroom. While the prosecutor sought a five-year term in a real prison, Judge Nathan Grant went easy on Shelton. He sentenced him to one year at the same correctional facility he had escaped from, but he could be released sooner for good behavior.

The judge said, “I don’t condone your actions, but the report is pretty good. You’re a good worker and you’ve had good jobs. And you’ve created no problems for anybody.”

Unlike serial killer Rodney Alcala, who was selected by the bachelorette for a date—although he kind of creeped her out and she never went through with it—James Shelton wasn’t as lucky. He wasn’t selected for that date with the Rams cheerleader.