I lost my phone number. Can I borrow yours?
These days, pick-up lines aren't the only way to get a date on the Tufts campus - that is, if Alethea Pieters and Jesse Levey have anything to do with it. For the past three semesters, the two seniors have been hosting the most popular program on TUTV - a dating show called "Jumbo Love Match." And on Valentine's Day, the two matchmakers are hoping to promote old-fashioned dating on campus.
"All my life I've been obsessed with setting people up," Pieters said. "The first time I played matchmaker was in the first grade with my best friend Tina Perello and the star tetherball champion Kane Dodson."
During the summer before her sophomore year, Pieters carried her matchmaking interests to a new level. She proposed her idea of a dating show to TUTV, and the station's board loved it. The next question was who would co-host.
That person turned out to be senior Jesse Levey, who said he does the show out of an interest in reviving old-fashioned dating on campus.
"There's not enough dating," Levey said. "It's not a problem unique to Tufts, but people our age just don't see dating as a viable option if they're interested in someone."
"We're spreading the love across campus, hopefully igniting a spark, reminding kids that old-fashioned dating is also a great alternative to making out on the floor of 123 if you want to start a relationship with someone you have your eye on," Pieters said.
And being co-host has certain additional benefits.
"Let's talk about Jesse's attraction to the main girl contestant on our first episode ever," Pieters said. "The love match was on, but not for her and one of the bachelors."
"Yeah, I actually went out with a girl who I met on the show for a while," Levey said.
After a semester of programming, Levey and Pieters brought in their friend Tommy Calvert, who agreed to do a 60-second love advice segment.
"I never intended it to be 60 seconds," Calvert said, admitting that he is known for being relatively long-winded. "It's pretty much a joke that I'm giving love advice in the first place."
In their time on the show, the seniors have seen their fair share of unusual dating situations. Pieters said that one girl didn't tell the hosts she actually had a boyfriend. At the end of her Jumbo Love Match date, she asked her match to drop her off at her boyfriend's house. Another contestant also didn't tell the hosts that he was attached. Moments before the taping, it was discovered that he was actually dating a girl with whom his brother had been set up on a previous show.
According to Levey, this year's season has had a number of surprises. Two guys ended up having a fight over a girl, some contestants ended up taking their shirts off, and some even ended up singing on the show.
"I think that's great," Levey said. "That's the kind of stuff we want to bring back."
For viewers, one point of controversy has always been whether or not the Jumbo love match ends up as a date. Pieters and Levey admit that not all the couples agree to go on a date, but those who refuse are not invited back on the show.
The show offers a number of choices to their winning contestants. The couple is always given the option of going to a Boston club, but nobody has ever chosen to do so. Other than that, the show has been successful in getting Davis square restaurants and venues to give them coupons. Levey, Pieters, and Calvert have considered videotaping the date, but in the end, they thought that would spoil the romantic mood.
The show's success will soon be confronted with one glaring problem - its hosts are seniors, meaning Jumbo Love Match will be soon be given something of a facelift. According to Pieters, though, there's been several students interested in taking her and Levey's spots.
"We have already received several requests from folks, and we are very excited about that," Pieters said. "It's really important to me that Jumbo Love Match continues after Jesse and I leave, and of course we need another Tommy Calvert, but Lord knows, that is going to be really difficult."
Calvert said he doubts most viewers realize how much time and energy go into producing and directing the show. He thinks the next hosts may be in for a bit of a surprise.
So what advice do these matchmakers have this Valentine's Day?
"It's a great opportunity to take the plunge and play it off as casual," Calvert said. "It's a good excuse to go after someone who you've had your eye out for."
Pieters agreed. "Ask someone out on a date," she said. "Try this line: I may not be the hottest guy/girl on campus, but I am the only one asking you out for Thursday - what do you say? Let's get busy, baby. How about a hot date?"
