First Dates viewers were left astonished when a singleton revealed that a rare brain condition had caused her to develop a new accent overnight. Verity Went, appearing on the popular dating show, was paired with Mancunian Liam Besant. During their date, she asked him to guess where her accent was from.
As Liam guessed Newcastle or Sunderland, Verity explained that she was originally from the Midlands and had no control over her current accent. In a confessional, she disclosed that she has Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) and played a clip of how she used to sound with her Midlands accent.
She elaborated: '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 sometimes requires her to wear hearing aids because her brain occasionally prevents her from hearing 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 struggled to know how to deal with her. She then admitted in a 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. Comments included: 'This condition amazes me'; 'She’s an incredible inspiration'; 'Bless, mad condition, hope she finds her person'; 'That must be hard for her to go through but I love her new accent'; and '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.'
Foreign Accent Syndrome is most often caused by damage to the brain due to a stroke or traumatic brain injury. Other causes include multiple sclerosis and conversion disorder, and in some cases no clear cause is identified. Speech may be altered in timing, intonation, and tongue placement, making it sound foreign. Listeners can usually still understand the sufferer's speech, which does not necessarily sound disordered. FAS has been documented worldwide, including 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 globally since its discovery in 1907.
What is Functional Neurological Disorder?
Functional neurological disorder (FND) is a disabling cause of neurological symptoms. People with FND can experience a wide variety of symptoms including weakness and abnormal movement patterns (e.g., tremor, abnormal limb posturing, gait problems), attacks resembling epileptic seizures, sensory issues, cognitive problems, and visual and speech problems. While symptoms may appear similar to neurological diseases like multiple sclerosis, Parkinson's, and epilepsy, and can be equally disabling, they are not caused by structural disease of the nervous system but rather a problem with its 'functioning', often termed 'medically unexplained'. People with FND seem to lose the ability to control or access their body normally. The 'basic wiring' of the nervous system is intact, but when trying to move, feel, or think, control is impaired.
The exact prevalence of FND is unknown, but estimates range from 14 to 22 cases per 100,000 people. Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust reports that FND patients constitute about a quarter of its neurology patients. For most, symptoms are short-lived, but in others they can persist for months or years. The cause is poorly understood, but scientists liken it to a brain glitch that perpetuates symptoms after an initial trigger such as a physical injury, infectious illness, panic attack, or migraine. Treatment may include physiotherapy, psychological therapy, or occupational therapy, or a combination thereof.
