diff --git a/internal/controller/rollout_controller.go b/internal/controller/rollout_controller.go
index d592a9f..e4bb095 100644
--- a/internal/controller/rollout_controller.go
+++ b/internal/controller/rollout_controller.go
@@ -218,7 +218,8 @@ func (r *RolloutReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (ct
 	}
 
 	// Gating logic: gates already evaluated at the beginning, check if deployment should be blocked
-	if !r.hasManualDeployment(&rollout) {
+	// Skip gate blocking on first deploy (empty history) so a rollout always reaches its initial version.
+	if !r.hasManualDeployment(&rollout) && len(rollout.Status.History) > 0 {
 		if !gatesPassing {
 			return ctrl.Result{}, nil // Status already updated at the beginning
 		}
@@ -227,9 +228,15 @@ func (r *RolloutReconciler) Reconcile(ctx context.Context, req ctrl.Request) (ct
 		}
 	}
 
+	// On first deploy, fall back to raw release candidates if gates filtered them all out.
+	if len(rollout.Status.History) == 0 && len(gatedReleaseCandidates) == 0 {
+		gatedReleaseCandidates = releaseCandidates
+	}
+
 	// Evaluate health checks - block deployment if health checks are not healthy
 	// For manual deployments (WantedVersion or force-deploy), skip this check
-	if !r.hasManualDeployment(&rollout) {
+	// Also skip when no version has been deployed yet (first deploy) — nothing is running so health checks will be unhealthy by definition
+	if !r.hasManualDeployment(&rollout) && len(rollout.Status.History) > 0 {
 		healthChecksHealthy, healthCheckMessage, err := r.evaluateHealthChecks(ctx, req.Namespace, &rollout)
 		if err != nil {
 			log.Error(err, "Failed to evaluate health checks")