In the Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso,” characters Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) and Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh) download Bantr, a fictional dating app where users can’t see each other’s photos. Bumble, the women-focused dating app, has now partnered with “Ted Lasso” to bring the experience of Bantr to its users.
On Thursday, October 13, Bumble is launching a weekly “Bantr Live” experience, which mimics blind dating by having the user connect via chat without seeing what the potential match looks like.
“The premise of Bantr is a dating experience many of our members have expressed interest in over the years. Bantr Live enables our community to connect with someone unexpectedly and learn more about a person before seeing them. We look forward to people on Bumble having fun with Bantr Live and connecting and dating in a new and exciting way,” said Olivia Yu, Global VP of Partnerships, Bumble, in a statement.
Every Thursday at 7 p.m. local time, users can RSVP to the weekly event in Bumble’s Date Mode within the app. Bumble will have a reminder on screen with a countdown, so users know when Bantr Live kicks off. Once a user joins, they are randomly paired with someone and have three minutes to direct message a potential match. If things go well, users can choose to match, see each other’s photos and continue the conversation in the app.
Bantr Live will be available to Bumble users for free in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia. The experience will last until the end of the year.
Also, as part of the partnership, Bumble users can redeem a two-month subscription to Apple TV+.
Earlier this month, TechCrunch reported Bumble’s newest blind date feature, which was quietly tested in the U.K. Now we know that this feature is called Bantr Live.
The feature competes with Tinder’s “Blind Date” feature, an anonymous chat experience, and its speed dating-like feature “Fast Chat,” which lets users connect before matching.
As previously announced, characters from the Emmy-winning series are featured in the newly launched EA Sports video game FIFA 23. Ted Lasso, Coach Beard, Sam Obisanya, Jamie Tartt, Dani Rojas, Roy Kent and Isaac McAdoo appear in the game.