The participants of Guardian Weekend’s most recent Blind Date column, Joanne and Morgan, got more than they bargained for after a highly successful evening out propelled the pair into the public eye.

Describing how they bonded over pasta and negronis at an east London restaurant before gatecrashing the “fateful house party”, Joanne said the evening’s awkward moment came for her when she had to flee the party “leaving my knickers behind”.

The date, during which the pair both texted friends to say how brilliant the other was, became an internet hit, with readers tweeting in celebration.

The former government minister Ed Balls tweeted: “I always love this column – especially ‘Marks out of 10’ – but this one is the BEST ONE EVER !!”

The comedian Nish Kumar wrote: “Surely someone has to buy the film rights to this column … They’re the best.”

Joanne said on Sunday that the pair had met since, and would continue to see each other. “We will see each other more, of course we will,” she told BBC Radio 5 Live. However, when asked whether it would lead to a blind date wedding, she said: “I don’t believe in marriage as a construct … [but] after I’ve finished my pottery course we’re going to be in a full-time relationship.”

BBC Radio 5 Live (@bbc5live) Joanne and Morgan's @guardian blind date was called 'the best date ever' by lots of you. ❤️🙌



But what happened next? We caught up with one of them to find out...#5LiveBreakfast | #blinddate pic.twitter.com/ikzet1LwGv

Dr Charlotte Lydia Riley, a lecturer in 20th-century British history at Southampton University, tweeted: “I spent some time reassuring someone the other day that being in your twenties is always terrible and life gets a lot better in your thirties, then read this and remembered no, actually, your twenties are HILARIOUS.”

Celebrities expressed their joy after reading the article over the weekend. “This is everything,” the BBC Radio 2 DJ Sara Cox tweeted. “The funniest most joyful Blind Date ever.”

The column was also the subject of an in-depth review by a GQ columnist, Justin Myers, who wrote. “And this is why, in 2019 – Plenty Nineteen? – with all those struggles ahead of us and no end in sight, we have two women out on a date who have decided, ‘fuck it, the world is a spinning dumpster and I can either be mere kindling for its fire or I can be accelerant and go out with a bang’.”