The Washington Post’s popular blind-date series is being discontinued.
The Washington Post recently announced that it will end its Sunday Magazine, which is terrible news for many reasons. Among other things, it means the end of the Post’s popular Date Lab series, where two readers go on a blind date and then report back on what happened.
Aso Lab originated in 2006, and as of 2019 at least three weddings have resulted from it. Most of the time, however, things don’t go well—usually in memorable ways. To mark the passing of this long series, here are some notable Date Lab failures, as well as a few successes.
The Bad
A horse girl and a horse boy – what will happen? Well, according to Eva, everything. In her post-date interview, she said she couldn’t believe that even though she said she liked horses, she didn’t know what to wear. Jack said they teased a little, but then he realized there was nothing there. The kicker came when he went to the bathroom for an unusual amount of time. “It doesn’t look like he’s coming back,” Jack told the waiter. He didn’t.
In the beginning, Adam was kicked out of the date spot – the Post sent two men to the hyper-hetero bar Madhatter, which Date Lab admitted was probably a mistake. But they can’t blame the Post for everything else that went wrong. Christian said the conversation wasn’t deep and Adam didn’t ask him any questions about himself. In the interview after the day he said, “I was more interested in playing with my food than listening to him,” and scored the day a 1.5 out of 5. Oof.
They signed in on Zoom. They thought each other was beautiful. Unfortunately, it all fell apart in less than an hour. Chris’s phone was on three percent, and instead of doing what I’m sure was a difficult walk to get a load, he decided to cut the day short. Carly insisted to Chris why she didn’t think they should continue getting to know each other and was upset when he didn’t give a straight answer. Later, he tells her that he doesn’t seem to like her. Carly decided that she didn’t want anyone criticizing the way she played League of Legends.
Ben and Claire got on well with their number sharing (a rarity with Date Lab), but Claire, who has worked on ads for Kamala Harris and Hillary Clinton, can’t go without and asking who Ben voted for Democratic. first place. He admitted his admiration for Andrew Yang. After they hung up, Claire said this. She texts him to ask his thoughts on Yang running for mayor of New York, and when he replies that he believes in Yang, Claire lets him read.
The Good
At first doubting the meaning of Samu’s southern voice about his political beliefs, Mariana was convinced when he told her that he was leftist. That obstacle aside, the day was off to a great start. They stayed at the Royal in Shaw until it closed and decided they were going to have such a great time, they didn’t want to end the vacation there. They walked down the street to a wine bar and shared a bottle. The latest update they are still calling; we wish Sam and Mariana the best.
Marrisa and André enjoyed Monday Mezcal at Espita together. They spent the night jumping from topic to topic, bonding over their shared love for yoga and Stevie Wonder. Marrisa loved her old white Nikes and thought they looked put together. André also admired her clothes. With great energy, they talked about their passions and what they wanted to try. They could joke with each other. At the end of the night, Marrisa went in for a kiss. They exchanged numbers and said they intended to go out again.
Keely recently graduated with a master’s in journalism from American University and has been reporting on local DC, politics, and business. He previously wrote for the Capitol Forum.