updates<\/em><\/li>\r\n \t\r\n<\/ul>\r\n\r\n<\/div>\n\u201cBeing quarantined in an apartment is like being in a pod,\u201d Lam, a 27-year-old content creator, tells The Post.<\/p>\n
Stuck in their apartment with their jobs called off, Lam and Nix, 28, launched the concept Tuesday as a joke. Within just three hours, 24 people were going on \u201cdates\u201d in their own homes.<\/p>\n
By Wednesday afternoon,\u00a0the Instagram page\u00a0had over 5,200 followers and over 500 eligible singles hoping to find romance while social distancing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re two extroverts. We\u2019re going stir-crazy, it\u2019s only day two of self-isolation,\u201d says Lam. \u201cWe have a lot of time on our hands.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lam and Nix say they made up the show as they went along.\u00a0Using a public Google Sheet\u00a0and their Instagram account, they recruit people looking for love. Contestants enter their names, phone numbers and a short bio about themselves. Lam sees himself as Nick Lachey and Nix sees himself as Vanessa Lachey, the hosts of the Netflix show.<\/p>\n
\u201cI texted each person individually, \u2018Hey, I see you signed up, do you want to do this?\u2019 \u201d explains Nix, an actor and real estate agent. \u201cPeople go, \u2018Sure, why not? What the heck.\u2019 And I would immediately shout to Thi, \u2018Thi, another person wants to do it, put them in a pod!\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd I would be like, \u2018Hayley is in Pod 7. We need a male in Pod 7, who we got?\u2019 \u201d says Lam.<\/p>\n
On the Google Sheet that models the Netflix show, 24 daters rotate through 12 pods. Nix puts each couple in a group message and gives them question prompts to start off with.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe tried to encourage people to get on the phone and have actual conversations. Some people were a little more comfortable with texting, which was cool because there were a few people that texted for quite a long time,\u201d says Nix.<\/p>\n
But the experiment isn\u2019t limited to social media and texting. Contestants are also asked to film themselves before, during and after each date. Lam and Nix update their Instagram page in real time so fans could follow along with the drama of the night, just like the show.<\/p>\n
And just like the show, it\u2019s garnering some gossip. Lam and Nix started a fan tab in the Google sheet so viewers following along could chime in on the action.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had over 50 people . . . watching an Excel sheet. Which is really funny,\u201d says Lam.<\/p>\n
Onlookers are quick to pick sides.\u00a0One 30-year-old man, Red, went on a date with a 24-year-old named Haley. They had a lot in common, though Red was concerned about their age difference. Viewers noticed their story was extremely similar to\u00a0Jessica\u2019s from the real \u201cLove is Blind,\u201d\u00a0who became the villain of the reality show after she couldn\u2019t get past the age difference between her and\u00a0her fianc\u00e9, Mark.<\/p>\n
When Red then went out with another woman named Brooke, fans knew he was the Jessica in this situation \u2014 the contestant was also caught in a love triangle between Barnett and Mark in the pods on the show.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone was like, \u2018Who is Red going to pick? Is he going to pick Brooke or Haley?\u2019 \u201d says Lam.<\/p>\n
On Wednesday at 7:30 p.m., another round of dates will start, or \u201cSeason 2\u201d as Lam and Nix call it. Today, they\u2019re building a website and designing merchandise, which they plan to sell and donate the profits to Feeding America.<\/p>\n
They don\u2019t know how long their project will last.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will end this when we get our jobs back,\u201d Lam says, adding they\u2019re welcoming the distraction during this dark period with open arms. \u201cThis is genuinely organic and funny and stupid and kind of what we need right now as a society.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s too soon to say whether any of the singles will maintain their bond once the pandemic ends, Lam says, but he\u2019s hopeful something good will come of this experiment in the end.<\/p>\n
\u201cA couple of the couples are still chatting today, and there are a few people who really want to plan dates once we get through everything.\u201d<\/p>\n\n
<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
These guys are lovesick. With the coronavirus bringing face-to-face dating to a halt, singles are\u00a0getting increasingly desperate\u00a0for some action. Enter \u201cLove is Quarantine,\u201d a social media dating experiment based on\u00a0the popular reality show \u201cLove is Blind.\u201d The concept comes from Bushwick creatives Thi Lam and Rance Nix, who are pairing off self-isolated singles for blind …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":63820,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[864],"tags":[4100],"yoast_head":"\n
Viral \u2018Love is Blind\u2019 spoof pairs singles self-quarantined from coronavirus - TheFastFashion.com<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viral \u2018Love is Blind\u2019 spoof pairs singles self-quarantined from coronavirus - TheFastFashion.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"These guys are lovesick. With the coronavirus bringing face-to-face dating to a halt, singles are\u00a0getting increasingly desperate\u00a0for some action. Enter \u201cLove is Quarantine,\u201d a social media dating experiment based on\u00a0the popular reality show \u201cLove is Blind.\u201d The concept comes from Bushwick creatives Thi Lam and Rance Nix, who are pairing off self-isolated singles for blind …\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TheFastFashion.com\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/buyingforbeauty\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-03-19T03:43:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/03\/Love-is-Blind.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"618\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"410\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"TheFastFashion\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"TheFastFashion\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819\",\"name\":\"Viral \u2018Love is Blind\u2019 spoof pairs singles self-quarantined from coronavirus - TheFastFashion.com\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2020-03-19T03:43:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-19T03:43:01+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6724c5c91d5889cf040718d048e9c810\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Viral \u2018Love is Blind\u2019 spoof pairs singles self-quarantined from coronavirus\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/\",\"name\":\"TheFastFashion.com\",\"description\":\"Fashion, Life Style, Beauty, Makeup, Costume...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/6724c5c91d5889cf040718d048e9c810\",\"name\":\"TheFastFashion\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/165dc3997dd8e848f9e4cb8574ab2042?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/165dc3997dd8e848f9e4cb8574ab2042?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"TheFastFashion\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Viral \u2018Love is Blind\u2019 spoof pairs singles self-quarantined from coronavirus - TheFastFashion.com","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.thefastfashion.com\/?p=63819","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Viral \u2018Love is Blind\u2019 spoof pairs singles self-quarantined from coronavirus - TheFastFashion.com","og_description":"These guys are lovesick. 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