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(Neil Tawney for WSN)<\/p>\nA steamy comedy dating show hit the NYU stage Monday night, as the Kimmel Center for University Life\u2019s Rosenthal Pavilion was packed with students and local community members hooting and hollering through nearly two hours of pure chaos.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Kupid Dating Show \u2014\u00a0hosted by Evan Rama, a former student at The University of Texas at Austin \u2014 is currently touring higher education institutions across the country. Rama started the event last year, inspired by his time running a UT Austin entertainment club, and began hosting the show at other schools amid growing online popularity. Determined to bring the festivities to NYU, Rama reached out to multiple student organizations before ultimately collaborating with the Bengali Students\u2019 Association.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have a 90-university tour we\u2019re doing in the fall to summer, and we want to make this better,\u201d Rama told WSN. \u201cRight now, there are some gaps. I want to make it as perfect as possible, and then perform in actual auditoriums and do it with larger, non-college audiences.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Neil Tawney for WSN)<\/p>\n
The show consists of two rounds, with each featuring five male and two female participants on stage. Separated by a curtain, the men are hidden from the women but visible to the audience. As the five contestants answered Rama\u2019s questions, the two women were tasked with eliminating those with the worst answers \u2014 with the audience\u2019s spirited feedback as guidance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Contestants were selected based on responses to a Google Form open to all before the show, including non-NYU students. Samia Islam, one of the two female contestants on stage, came from Baruch College near Gramercy Park to compete. In preparation, she ran over possible questions with her friends and aimed to keep the atmosphere light and comedic.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m just hoping to have fun and maybe make some friends,\u201d Islam said in an interview with WSN. \u201cEven if we don\u2019t end up dating, at least we could be good friends.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rama asked contestants a range of invasive questions, from their worst hookup stories and fetishes to requiring them to act out their favorite sex positions on a volunteer selected from the audience. While some contestants erred on the side of politeness, declining to answer and citing religious reasons or lack of experience, several men walked up to the mic, proudly discussing risque topics.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cAt some schools, people get offended by some of the questions, so we change questions based on the school,\u201d Rama said before the show. \u201cI\u2019ve heard this is a very theatrical school \u2014 I\u2019m assuming people are going to be very open to our questions.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crowds roared as students watched their classmates reveal the intimate details of their sex lives and most embarrassing moments. In between rounds of questioning, Rama offered audience members the chance to win money and other awards through challenges, such as calling their exes to say they missed them. At one point, Rama offered a cash prize for audience members who made out with each other on stage, eventually raising the offer and doing the challenge himself.<\/p>\n
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(Neil Tawney for WSN)<\/p>\n
At the end of the first round, the last male contestant standing revealed himself from behind the curtain. He stood back to back with one of the girls, and the two participants indicated whether they wanted to go on a date with the other by giving a thumbs up or down. The contestants repeated this again for the second round, this time with two pairs. Of the three, only one couple matched \u2014 receiving $100 for their date.<\/p>\n
Between the inappropriate questions, on-stage grinding and makeouts and contestants\u2019 reliance on public opinion, the Kupid Dating Show aims to expose what Rama sees as the current state of dating among his generation. While the goal of a dating show is typically to find romance, Rama\u2019s uses uncomfortable questions and vulgar gestures that he believes represent the hook-up culture defining Generation Z. These cheap, attention-grabbing gimmicks are great for a quick laugh \u2014\u00a0but in terms of creating long-lasting relationships, the loss of the art of conversation is perhaps nowhere more visible than Kupid.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one in this generation knows how to date,\u201d Rama said. \u201cNo one knows how to ask people out anymore. This is the perfect example.\u201d<\/p>\n
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(Neil Tawney for WSN)<\/p>\n