Midlands Star Develops Geordie Accent Overnight!

First Dates viewers have been left shocked by a singleton who revealed a rare brain condition caused her to develop a new accent overnight.

Verity Went was paired with Mancunian Liam Besant on the show, and during their date she asked him to guess where her accent was from.

As Liam guessed Newcastle or Sunderland, Verity explained that she was actually from the Midlands and she had no control over her accent. 

Verity explained in a confessional that she has Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and played a clip of how she used to sound with her Midlands accent.

She explained: 'In October 2023, I had one of the worst migraines in my life. I couldn’t wake up, I couldn’t speak. And as it was [her speech] starting to come back, I could just tell that I didn’t sound like me.'

Verity added that her condition also means she sometimes has to wear hearing aids because sometimes her brain doesn't allow her to hear properly, noting that it had 'affected her life massively'. 

As Verity explained to Liam that her condition had led to Foreign Accent Syndrome (FAS) she revealed that some people had struggled to know how to deal with her. 

She then explained in confessional that she always worried about dating because she wasn't sure if a partner would be able to cope with her illness.  

Taking to social media, baffled viewers confessed they had never heard of the disorder before and praised Verity for speaking out and raising awareness. 

They shared: 'This condition amazes me'; 'She’s incredible inspiration'; 'She’s an incredible inspiration'; 'She’s beautiful ❤️❤️❤️'; 

'Bless, mad condition, hope she finds her person'; 'That must be hard for her to go through but I love her new accent';

'I also have a diagnosis of FND although I have never experienced this or even knew this could happen...thank you for sharing this and for making us aware';

'I have fibromyalgia and suspected FND...also have migraines. I didnt know this could happen so thank you for educating me.'

Foreign Accent Syndrome is most often caused by damage to the brain caused by a stroke or traumatic brain injury.

Other causes have also been reported including multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder.

In some cases no clear cause has been identified.

Speech may be altered in terms of timing, intonation, and tongue placement, so that is perceived as sounding foreign.

Listeners can usually still understand the sufferer's speech; it does not necessarily sound disordered.

Foreign Accent Syndrome has been documented in cases around the world, including accent changes from Japanese to Korean, British English to French, American-English to British English, and Spanish to Hungarian.

It has only been recorded 150 times worldwide since its discovery in 1907.