Speaker 1: Flex and Firms Flex and Firms. This is the Flex
Speaker 1: and Frooms catch up podcast. Always I'm hearing people bemoaning
Speaker 1: the current dating scene. Well on the apps redacted. We
Speaker 1: won't name them because we do often like to work
Speaker 1: with that apps. I speak on behalf of myself. There
Speaker 1: is a column in the Guardian in the UK called
Speaker 1: first Dates where the guardian sets up two people they've
Speaker 1: never met, they don't know who each other are is,
Speaker 1: and they go to a restaurant. The guardian pays for
Speaker 1: the food that drinks us all in the house. They
Speaker 1: then wait, so, wat's the prompt with this?
Speaker 2: Is it kind of like a blind date situation where
Speaker 2: the guardian is pairing you with someone that is deemed
Speaker 2: to be compatible or it's.
Speaker 1: Just vibes, it's blind day vibes. Yeah, so the guardians like,
Speaker 1: you put your application in, then allegedly you go into
Speaker 1: a file and then the guardian reaches out to you
Speaker 1: and be like, yeah, we think you have a match,
Speaker 1: and they will liaise to get the date. It is
Speaker 1: so entertaining because what they then do is they get
Speaker 1: sent like a questionnaire about the date would you see
Speaker 1: them again? Data? And it's all like prefabricated questions, so
Speaker 1: everyone's answer goes through the same format, which I think
Speaker 1: is why I love the article, because it's like you
Speaker 1: just know exactly what you're going to get, and then
Speaker 1: they'll say would you go on another date? They also
Speaker 1: ask like did you kiss? Or what did you want?
Speaker 1: Was your first impression? And did any you know? And
Speaker 1: they and they get like people are salty sometimes or
Speaker 1: really like spoil the tea. But you can also tell
Speaker 1: when people have spoken on the date and said, oh,
Speaker 1: let's rig our answers to like safe face. But for
Speaker 1: the most part it's quite wholesome. You have you seen it?
Speaker 1: Mcke I saw the ad for when it was coming here,
Speaker 1: but I had no idea the context behind it. This ad, guys,
Speaker 1: The Guardian posted on Instagram. Why am I seeing like
Speaker 1: thirty people that I know personally tagging their friends? You
Speaker 1: guys are shameless and I love it. Have you have
Speaker 1: you read the articles.
Speaker 2: Not up until you shared it? I hadn't. I hadn't
Speaker 2: heard of it before.
Speaker 1: Did you click through the link that? I'm absolutely okay,
Speaker 1: good to.
Speaker 2: Know and it's fantastic. I think it's a lot more
Speaker 2: high pressure then you would have it seen the idea
Speaker 2: that you nameless, faithless person sign up to potentially go
Speaker 2: on a blind date with someone that is not so
Speaker 2: blind because by the end of it you get hundreds
Speaker 2: of thousands of.
Speaker 1: People waiting in on your date.
Speaker 2: I'd feel so blindsided if I went on what I
Speaker 2: thought was a good date and then I could read
Speaker 2: their feedback, but not privately. Everybody else is reading the
Speaker 2: feedback alongside. How mutual do you think the Guardian is
Speaker 2: being do they do? Do you think from their perspective,
Speaker 2: they're just here for the social experiment vibe of it all,
Speaker 2: although trying to kind of facilitate something salacious and juicy.
Speaker 1: Like when Australian and I would get people who are
Speaker 1: like really bad to sing through the auditions best part
Speaker 1: of the show. I must say. I dropped off after
Speaker 1: the first round, came back for the finale obviously at
Speaker 1: the Opera House. Listen. I actually have then inside scoop
Speaker 1: from a chick who went in the UK. I actually
Speaker 1: have two scoops. Two women reached out and said I
Speaker 1: went on one this year in January in the UK.
Speaker 1: Another woman went a few years ago. I'm going to
Speaker 1: tell you exactly what we down I feel like the
Speaker 1: Guardian would effing hate that I do this. Why because
Speaker 1: I'm like giving, I'm like sharing emails and stuff. It's
Speaker 1: so so like if i I'd be mad, Why are
Speaker 1: you doing that? Please?
Speaker 2: Now?
Speaker 1: They love me, love me listen. Okay, So this woman
Speaker 1: messaged me I'm not gonna lie. I was so surprised
Speaker 1: by how much she was sharing and like happy for
Speaker 1: me to keep her name in it. You you are
Speaker 1: the journal that everyone should be fearful.
Speaker 2: Long they make you feel comfortable, so you spill your
Speaker 2: guts like they told me all this stuff.
Speaker 1: They say, oh frek, well, I say, yeah, oh record,
Speaker 1: I accidently post there. It's like when you suppost people's
Speaker 1: screenshots of their messages and like try and wipe out
Speaker 1: all of their features and then down the very end
Speaker 1: it like I thought you do that on purpose. Okay,
Speaker 1: not unless they savage me like there was. There have
Speaker 1: been a few moments where there's been some terse times
Speaker 1: and I've accidentally left a few details in just in case. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 1: so I see Guardian coming to Australia. I put it up.
Speaker 1: Chick messages me. She says, I was on it. It's great,
Speaker 1: best and lowest maintenance ever. Her name was Sasha, so
Speaker 1: she told me that she went through the forum and
Speaker 1: put her details in. Then the Guardian reach out. Hi, Sasha,
Speaker 1: I think if you're interested in taking part in the
Speaker 1: Weekend's blind Date column, We'll try our best to find
Speaker 1: a suitable match for you. But please understand that we
Speaker 1: can't always match everybody straight away, so your patience is appreciated.
Speaker 1: If you could let me know a little bit more
Speaker 1: about yourself, location, occupation, interest, hobbies, hate that question and
Speaker 1: the type of person you're looking to meet. That would
Speaker 1: be great and can you send me in a recent
Speaker 1: pick demonic? Okay, she says, I have no idea what
Speaker 1: you are looking for, but I'm twenty nine Australian. There's
Speaker 1: too many of us I know. Okay, it's given personality single.
Speaker 1: I'm willing to write about my dating experience for the
Speaker 1: wider population. I'd be happy to go on a date
Speaker 1: with the guy in the twenty six or thirty five
Speaker 1: year old vicinity. Please tell me, Please tell me what
Speaker 1: you'd like me to supply to be considered. S from
Speaker 1: the Guardians is Sasha, I think I may have found
Speaker 1: a match for you. It's early days, But what's your
Speaker 1: availability like? But next week, all the week commencing Monday nineteenth,
Speaker 1: let me know some dates and I can see if
Speaker 1: I can get you a date aligned. I love this
Speaker 1: Guardian person's email, Eticua, since she tells me more that Emi.
Speaker 1: We confirmed the restaurant and I was supposed to arrive
Speaker 1: and say I was there for the Guardian. His name's Nick.
Speaker 1: He'd already arrived first and in the scheme of things,
Speaker 1: it was a really nice date. I was disappointed because
Speaker 1: he didn't want to share a bottle of wine. It
Speaker 1: was on the Guardian's tab, so I was like, why
Speaker 1: not frame one? And we had great chats. He's thinking
Speaker 1: like I can't. I have to be a reliable witness,
Speaker 1: get a few drinks and suddenly love everyone. Ever Yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: there wasn't a huge spark there. I gave him a
Speaker 1: nice review because I was like, well, better to be
Speaker 1: the nicer party than the stingy one. Yeah. All in all,
Speaker 1: I was pretty happy with what he wrote about me.
Speaker 1: I do remember panicking the day after, though, because I'd
Speaker 1: applied and didn't think through the fact that it would
Speaker 1: be in the paper. I think because I'd followed it
Speaker 1: from oz where it's a niche online article. Okay, real
Speaker 1: months stand up and on the date. He worked for
Speaker 1: the BBC and had to get approval from the bosses
Speaker 1: to go on the date. And I hadn't told anyone
Speaker 1: at work because I work at a radio station, same siss.
Speaker 1: It only occurred to me and media to do this.
Speaker 1: It's all yeah, truure type, myself included. But then the
Speaker 1: first person who texted me the date came out was
Speaker 1: my boss, and he tweeted it to all of his followers,
Speaker 1: so he thought it was good. And then I asked
Speaker 1: her what was it like, like, were you worried that
Speaker 1: the guy was going to rate your date as not good?
Speaker 2: Mmm?
Speaker 1: And I said I personally would be on best behavior
Speaker 1: and performing so they didn't rip me a new asshole.
Speaker 1: She said. I remember being a little annoyed because we
Speaker 1: didn't really talk about what we'd rate each other, but
Speaker 1: I was on best behavior. He got my number and
Speaker 1: was like, let's catch up again, and then I heard
Speaker 1: nada from him except for a text like the day
Speaker 1: before our reviews, would you on each other? Just checking
Speaker 1: in see how I was going?
Speaker 2: Then literally, okay, the timing, the timing wah wah, we
Speaker 2: were okay.
Speaker 1: Then literally the day after our reviews went in but
Speaker 1: before publication, he texted being like, oh, sorry, I haven't
Speaker 1: been in touch. I actually reconnected with an old flame,
Speaker 1: so I don't think anything will happen with us or
Speaker 1: something along those lines. I wasn't miffed about the rejection
Speaker 1: message because like, who hasn't gone on, but I felt
Speaker 1: like he played the timeline, so I'd write nice things
Speaker 1: about him and then came clean the day after that
Speaker 1: adds up, which I said, you kind of ate with that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: hilarious because this other woman who messaged me also hilarious,
Speaker 1: was talking about how this will take me two minutes.
Speaker 1: I actually have to share the second one because I
Speaker 1: didn't put this on my stories, so it was like
Speaker 1: that was essentially for people who follow the podcast but
Speaker 1: don't follow my personal social media, which is offensive, but yeah,
Speaker 1: you gotta get your flexi somewhere, all right, his chic
Speaker 1: She said. I also went on one twenty twenty three's
Speaker 1: first issue got absolutely violated by the editor and the
Speaker 1: photographer and severely severely cut by the editor. So essentially
Speaker 1: she was saying that they did so dirty with the
Speaker 1: photos that they took because they do a photo shoot
Speaker 1: before the date. And then she said she was being
Speaker 1: funny in the answers and they gave her nothing. She said,
Speaker 1: I sent the application email in May last year, and
Speaker 1: then she got the email in January, so that's like
Speaker 1: ages ago. She said. The response is almost identical to
Speaker 1: your other chick no hits until November when I got
Speaker 1: asked to come in for the professional photo shoot. Picks
Speaker 1: arrived at Guardian HQ in London and the editor said
Speaker 1: she'd found a good match, but he lives in Newcastle
Speaker 1: that's four hours away and also loves vinyl. Doesn't sound
Speaker 1: like a very good match to me. Insert editor's name.
Speaker 1: She said she was going back to the drawing board.
Speaker 1: Good idea, editor, but I got my picks taken anyway.
Speaker 1: In the full studio setup with the photographer, shy girl
Speaker 1: turned into model girl and the photographer was throwing things
Speaker 1: around like you're in natural etc. Love that gus live,
Speaker 1: thank you your good vibes all around. She said she'd
Speaker 1: pick the best one and make sure I was totally
Speaker 1: the one being looked at. Told her my national newspaper
Speaker 1: debut was in her hands. Two weeks later, I got
Speaker 1: an email confirmation from the editor that it was go time.
Speaker 1: Turned up to the Good restaurant, had already been there,
Speaker 1: but pretended I hadn't. Crazy face. My guy was already
Speaker 1: there looking like any other English white guy. Was this
Speaker 1: is just something else? I like her? Yeah, she's funny.
Speaker 1: I was totally surprised, though, and made use of the
Speaker 1: full Guardian budget. Three courses cocktails, why new name? It
Speaker 1: it that they fully thought we were food critics, being
Speaker 1: a tent tivaf so people they say I'm here for
Speaker 1: the Guardian and the waiters are thinking of it's HM
Speaker 1: forod critics solidate until the post pub end. When he
Speaker 1: asked what I was going to do ari ratings. I
Speaker 1: said we would just give each other the same number.
Speaker 1: He said it'd be cool to refuse to answer it,
Speaker 1: and I saw the pure terror in his eyes. So
Speaker 1: I agreed, sent the street selfie and answer in and
Speaker 1: that was it until publication day. The editor did me
Speaker 1: dirty with the pick choice moral of the story don't
Speaker 1: trust photographers called insert name, and don't wear fox liver
Speaker 1: pants to a pro photo shoot. The editor also cut
Speaker 1: most of my answers her job, I get it, but
Speaker 1: made them less funny, overall hilarious experience and would definitely
Speaker 1: time six thirty nine two zero recommend anyone to apply
Speaker 1: for the free dinner, good story to tell the grandkids,
Speaker 1: and potential for the love your life or maybe just
Speaker 1: a second date. Does this person also work in media?
Speaker 1: Medical student? I'm obsessed with them. Mave so, guys, I
Speaker 1: reckon my advice. If you're gonna apply some pizzas in
Speaker 1: the email, but still keep it to Guardian tone, like
Speaker 1: I think they're going to go for a certain no,
Speaker 1: do it if you want to.
Speaker 2: If someone applying is gonna do it to Guardian tone,
Speaker 2: they don't need to kick back for that. They don't
Speaker 2: work for the Guardian. Do it because you want to
Speaker 2: do it because you're gonna find the love of your life.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Otherwise, the Guardian's only agenda here is to make a
Speaker 2: good story, and they don't care if they make you
Speaker 2: look to get it.
Speaker 1: I'm sure, So protect yourself. Oh my word. You've been
Speaker 1: listening to The Flex and Froom's daily podcast. For more,
Speaker 1: tune Indicater on DAB or stream it on iHeartRadio.