Overview:
If you enjoy "Love is Blind," you'll love Dating in the Dark, a local take on the concept created by Gracey Thompson and Kori Woods.
Maybe it’s not dating in Denver that’s so difficult, but rather how we date in Denver. From dating apps to blind dates, does anything truly work? Although Denver has a fair share of attempts to give our dating scene a name in the reality television space, seeing it on television is just not the same as the real thing.
For example, this April, Netflix announced that a new season of their dating reality show “Love is Blind” has been filmed here in Denver and will be released sometime in August. “Love is Blind,” originally released in 2020, puts single individuals inside separate cubicles where they cannot see their partner for nearly two weeks and don’t get to meet each other face-to-face until after they are engaged.
The idea is to see if a person can be with their partner aside from looks, but rather a connection made from those cubicles and only their voice. However, what if the concept were brought to life here in front of a live audience?
That’s exactly what Gracey Thompson, who founded and produced Dating in the Dark with her longtime friend and assistant Kori Woods, nearly a year and a half ago in the Mile High City, set out to do. “I just feel like what’s better than having your own little ‘Love Island’ that you’re seeing your friends do in front of you blindfolded?” Thompson posited during our conversation.
In late June, they held their monthly show at Jackson’s LoDo, across from Coors Field, to a live audience of roughly 60 to 80. For only $20, the dating show isn’t just for those looking for a date, but rather friends and those looking for something to do on their Saturday night.
“People are just tired of Hinge life; these people want to try something,” said local comedian and host of Dating in the Dark, Hannah Popkin. “It’s just like providing a fun experience for them to try something. So it’s just like a fun way to bring the community together for a drink and laughter.”
Ahead of the show, attendees interested in being contestants apply on Dating in the Dark’s Instagram page, with questions ranging from likes or dislikes to various preferences. Putting a bold twist on traditional matchmaking, contestants are given a blindfold. As the show begins, the main contestant looking for their match is asked a couple of questions by the host, related to their application. Based on these surveys, three contestants are chosen, brought to a different room and kept anonymous.
“We have three alternate daters that will each come up and do kind of like semi-speed dating slash blind dates in front of a live audience,” Woods said. “There’s a lot of audience participation.”
Mostly in their mid-twenties, the game keeps everyone on their toes, yet Thompson has considered continuing events with older audiences in the future.
“I love to do a golden bachelor type of situation, but the issue is that you need multiple people of that age or sexual orientation or whatever it is to be able to do a show like that,” Thompson said. “But we do have applicants that are fully across the board.”
Following the application, the other contestants get onstage with Popkin, who asks both easy questions like their careers or perfect ideas for a date, and the more risky questions about bedroom preferences. One of the evening’s more memorable moments occurred when Popkin asked a contestant, “Who do you think would play you in a romantic comedy?” Kassidy Cook, the contestant, asks her table of friends sitting at the front row, who giggled and collectively agreed it’d be Emma Stone.
Kassidy Cook, a Denver local, was chosen from the audience the day of the event and ended up being chosen by the main contestant of the night, following a vote from the audience on who’s the most compatible with the evening’s main contestant, Miki Seliger.
Thompson, inspired by the live dating show UpDating in New York City, not only wanted to see it for herself, but she also realized they didn’t tour, so she reasoned, “I have the resources, why not do it myself?” That’s where Popkin came in.
“I had produced a comedy show here in Denver for about a year before this, and so I met a lot of people through that,” Thompson says. “Sometimes you want something a little different than just a normal comedy show, so I think it’s important to diversify that event space and give people something that’s very new because there was no [one else] when we started.“
Following the event, Thompson says that although many of the events don’t always lead to a complete success rate, it’s still an enjoyable event.
”Dating in the Dark is perfect if you’re looking for a fun experience to go do,” Thompson said. “You don’t even necessarily need to be interested in dating or that sort of stuff; this is the kind of event that’s great if you’re just looking for something new that’s different than everything else out there.”
Dating in the Dark hosts its next event on July 25 from 7 to 8:30 p.m. at Jackson’s LoDo, 1520 20th Street, Denver.
