The Weekly Magazine

The Dating Game

Since Los Angeles rabbi Yaacov Deyo invented the concept in 1998 as a way for marriage-focused young Jewish singles to meet, speed dating has spread throughout the world. One of Australia’s biggest speed dating providers is Fast Life, which projects itself as “a premium, image-driven singles lifestyle service” directed at “successful, stylish and dynamic people”. Fast Life has three events a week in Melbourne and claims to have 65 per cent of the market share with its invitation-only events.

Unlike other speed dating services, Fast Life requires guests to register their details online before they are invited to a $79 weeknight event that matches their profile. To meet demand, Fast Life has branched out to other events such as degustation dating, physical preference dating (including tall men, curvy women or Asian women), salsa dancing and gay speed dating.

On the night each participant spends eight minutes with each date and decides whether they want to see them again. The results are collated and each person receives an email with the contract details of each successful match.

“Speed dating doesn’t have the stigma or the pressurized environment of a traditional dating agency where you sit down and watch videos of people,” says Anna Saunders, Fast Life marketing and events manager. “It’s not something people like to keep quiet about. They are often proud of the fact they have dated eight or 10 people in one night.”

Most Fast Life customers join through referrals and word of mouth. The company has an average match rate of more than 90 per cent, compared to the industry average of 50 to 60 per cent. For those people that get a match, the average number of matches is 3.1.