Fredericton — Every day thousands of East Coast Canadians join Tinder, a popular dating app that lets users swipe right or left on strangers’ photos to signify interest or indifference.
But a new trend has arisen of people downloading and cruising the app “as a joke” — or at least claiming it’s all in fun. Because the Maritimes are so small and close-knit, these jokesters are getting busted.
“I joined as a joke but then I found my boyfriend on there! He said he joined as a joke too, but I’m not laughing,” said Fredericton woman Leslie Francis, 26. “Like, how is that funny? I downloaded it when I was out with friends just to see what’s out there and laugh at guys’ lame profiles. That’s just lighthearted fun…but Tom? He doesn’t even have a sense of humour, so what’s his excuse?”
“I thought it’d be such a great prank — downloading Tinder when I have a girlfriend!” expressed Francis’s boyfriend Tom Urquart, with tears of laughter rolling down his cheeks. “Then I matched with a few girls…I assume they were probably joking too…and as a joke I went on a couple dates, and just for a laugh I even hooked up with a couple of them! What a riot!!”
Francis and Urquart both went on joke dates with Tinder matches, and happened to run into each other at Boston Pizza, where they were eating and drinking as a joke.
“No one seriously eats at Boston Pizza,” said Francis, trying to suppress a giggle, “so there’s your first clue that I was just having some fun. So I’m at the bar with this guy who asked me out as a joke — I accepted as a joke, of course — when I see Tom out with some girl! He looked all flustered and said he was pranking me. He was like, ‘Remember when you found Tinder open on my phone and accused me of cheating? I was just pulling a fast one on Brittney, here!’ He was laughing his ass off. I have to admit, it was pretty funny!”
Urquart’s buddies encouraged him to go on this joke date.
“We were hanging out and looking through Tinder as a joke, and I thought, wouldn’t it be so friggin’ hilarious if, like, Tom fell in love with one of these Tinder matches, and got married, and as a massive prank, started a family with her?” raved Urquart’s best friend Nick O’Toole. “Oh man, if he could pull that off I would laugh so hard. Leslie wouldn’t know what hit her. But she’s pretty easygoing so I think she’d get a kick out of it.”
O’Toole himself, who has never shown any sign of being funny, is considering a career in comedy all because he’s gone on so many joke Tinder dates.
“I was always a serious person, but Tinder has really brought out the comedian in me — I’ve been on probably 50 joke dates!” he exclaimed, swiping right on photo after photo of local girls. “I usually bring the girl flowers as a joke, and really wine and dine her, as if it’s for real!
“My girlfriend Hannah even said she might break up with me!” he laughed, slapping his thigh in amusement. “You know, as a joke.”