It’s Valentine’s Day and romance is already filling my feed. As such, I figured it was about time to provide some new dating content…by going back to one of the classics: speed dating.

Now, I’m familiar with speed dating from old school rom-coms like Hitch, which, being Hollywood, romanticizes it and makes it “sexy” and sweet. My experience was, well, nothing of the sort.

It was not romantic.

It was not sexy.

It was not sweet.

But it was certainly an experience.  

Sitting on a stool in a crowded, small restaurant on Ossington, I thought I was mentally prepared for what was to come. Although personally I adore Roywood’s jerk chicken and coleslaw [if you haven’t had it and aren’t vegan or vegetarian, trust me, it’s a must], I didn’t quite understand this restaurant being the venue of choice for a speed dating event—it doesn’t really exude romance. 

First off, it’s a small restaurant and being perched on a barstool next to the wall with another dater not even three feet away from me felt uncomfortable, even before the dates arrived. Once they took their seats—and our knees awkwardly touched—the uncomfortableness most certainly did not die down, but instead, flourished all the more. 

The music was playing slightly too loud, forcing us have to speak very loudly [yell] at our “potential” significant others for the entire five minutes. Also, for those wondering, yes, five minutes really does have the ability to feel like five hours with some people. 

Some ladies we’re lucky enough to have tables, but to be completely honest, I’m not sure that helped much. The venue just didn’t hit the mark—but honestly, neither did the concept when it came down to it. 

I was going into this with an open mind and if I’m being completely honest, viewing it a little as an experiment. I knew I was writing this article and for that reason I will not mention any names, nor the specific speed dating event I went to. 

When my friend first asked me if I wanted to go speed dating with her, the concept kind of excited me. I love meeting and talking with new people and as a previous talent and guest coordinator at a lifestyle talk show, I like to think I’m able to make conversation with most types of people. Given that making people feel at ease before they were appearing live on television in front of hundreds of thousands of viewers was my job for three years, this to me seemed like a piece of cake, a walk in the park, a day on the water. 

But I was wrong.

In the two hour event, I did met some nice people, but honestly, no one I would consider going on a follow up date with simply because I didn’t really have anything in common with anyone there. The problem, in my completely non-expert opinion, was that this event was open to anyone in Toronto between the ages of 24 and 40. That is a pretty large net to cast. More than that, it really is hard to make conversation with someone you just met when not even five minutes ago you have just had that same conversation with someone else. Talk about déjà vu.

But the five minute intervals was both a blessing and a curse. Blessing because most of the dates felt like they dragged on for a short eternity, but a curse for the reason that five minutes really doesn’t get you past the “who and what do you do” phase of the date. It doesn’t really give anyone a chance to shine or get past the awkward small talk.

Though my experience fell short, I do believe this would be a great event to hold in universities. It would allow students to meet others their age and the pool is more likely to hold people with common interests, at the very least, a commonality in the school they are attending.  For university students, it could be a cool, fun and fast format that gets people out and expanding their social circles. The event could then hold a mixer afterwards to allow people to connect after-the-fact with the people they clicked with, providing the opportunity for them continue their conversations where they left off.

ANYWAYS, Happy Valentine’s Day Everyone.