If you’re someone who finds excitement — or comfort — in scrolling mindlessly on Hinge, swiping left and right on potential matches and privately judging them from the comfort of your own bed, the Class Activities Board’s recent dating show would have been your worst nightmare.
Taking inspiration from the viral speed dating show of the same name first popularized by the YouTube channel Cut, “The Button” gave student contestants just minutes to decide whether the stranger sitting across from them was worth keeping around or worth sending home with the press of a button. The fateful button stood center stage at Kimmel’s Eisner & Lubin Auditorium last Friday, as around 300 attendees filled the warmly lit space and sat back to watch 36 students find a match.
The rules were simple. Two strangers sit down. If both feel a spark, they keep chatting until the light turns green — a match. If one person isn’t feeling it, they can choose to press the aforementioned button when the red light appears, prompting the other to leave the stage. Unlike the original YouTube format, the audience played an active role in the show, waving literal green flags for contestants they approved of and voting for who they thought was the cutest couple.
Students signed up after CAB announced the event in a universitywide email with the subject “LOOKING FOR LOVE??!?!?!?!.” CAB president and CAS senior Julz Liang, who served as emcee from behind the curtains, told WSN that the event was inspired both by Cut and a similar show hosted at the University of California, San Diego.
“NYU is just a very decentralized campus,” Liang said. “I’m trying to figure out what NYU students want and what is a way to create pure human connection, because a lot of times people host events like, ‘Oh, maybe we’ll do a movie night or something,’ and it just doesn’t really create that impact or meaningful connections.”
As contestants moved through potential partners on stage, conversations ranged from fashion compliments, debates on artificial intelligence and existential questions about the future. One participant summed up their reason for showing up in five words: “I am trying to experience-maxx.” Another got booed for their affinity for Valorant. One contestant’s nonnegotiable trait in a partner — no jealousy over his female friends — drew vocal reactions from the crowd. Another told the audience about the time he, apparently, almost got eaten by a horse.
For Gallatin junior Kevin Lu, stepping on stage in front of hundreds of students was no small feat. Lu was pulled in by a friend just a day before the show. He had no idea what he was walking into.
“Before I was about to go to bed, my friend texted me, ‘Hey, I’m going to this dating show’ — and he said, ‘Oh, I signed you up, by the way.’” Lu told WSN. “I honestly didn’t think it was gonna be a full-fledged production. When I walked in and saw some people in an elevator with lights and cameras, and I was like, ‘Whoa, this is pretty cool.’”
One of the night’s standout moments came when two female contestants took the stage and bonded over a shared love for “My Little Pony” — a conversation that won the crowd over, awarding them the title of cutest couple out of the four who ended up matching thanks to 32 audience votes.
As Hinge and Tinder dominate the contemporary dating scene, especially on college campuses, there’s been a subsequent rise in the apps’ in-person counterpart. Last month, the Kupid Dating Show visited NYU, where students engaged in risque questions and challenges to find their match — sparking questions about how to find genuine connections.
“I think a lot of people don’t want to use dating apps nowadays,” Liang said. “They just want to meet someone purely through an in-person interaction or something. I feel like ‘The Button’ is really a great way to do that, because it’s just a funny story, and it’s a unique experience.”
For CAB, the night marked an ambitious first attempt at “The Button” — one that came with its fair share of growing pains, including a delayed launch and the challenge of coordinating a team of student volunteers. But the overwhelming response was worth it, according to Liang, and the student group already has plans to bring the event next year with an interview process for applicants and matching contestants based on their responses.
“I loved the community aspect of it,” Lu said. “I feel like NYU just doesn’t have enough community, which is a little sad, but I quite liked this one — I wish that NYU had more stuff like this.”
Contact Macey Zhang at [email protected].