Apple TV+'s Ted Lasso and dating app Bumble team up with a new blind dating feature

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Who saw that one coming?

Bumble screenshot on blue background
(Image credit: Bumble)

Hit Apple TV+ show Ted Lasso is teaming up with dating app Bundle to replicate an in-show service that helps people take part in blind dating.

The partnership will see a new feature added to the Bumble app that will replicate the Bantr blind dating app from the Ted Lasso Apple TV+ show, the company has confirmed.

Blind date

For those unfamiliar with Bantr, TechCrunch has the details. The short version is that  Ted Lasso characters Rebecca Welton (played by Hannah Waddingham) and Sam Obisanya (actor Toheeb Jimoh) both download Bantr in an episode of the show. The app is a fictional blind dating offering that lets people chat without seeing anyone's photos. Now, Bumble is bringing that feature to life.

Starting Thursday, October 13, Bumble will run weekly "Bantr Live" experiences that will essentially be digital blind dates, just like in the TV show.

“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 reported on by TechCrunch.

Bumble says that the Bantr Live feature will be available in the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia for free and that it will run until the end of this year.

Notably, those who do take part in Bantr Live will also be able to get a free two-month subscription to Apple TV+, presumably so that they can then kick back and check out Ted Lasso with their date.

After that trial, Apple TV+ will cost subscribers $4.99 per month — it's available as part of the Apple One subscription bundle, too.

Oliver Haslam
Oliver Haslam
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Oliver Haslam has written about Apple and the wider technology business for more than a decade with bylines on How-To Geek, PC Mag, iDownloadBlog, and many more. He has also been published in print for Macworld, including cover stories. At iMore, Oliver is involved in daily news coverage and, not being short of opinions, has been known to 'explain' those thoughts in more detail, too. Having grown up using PCs and spending far too much money on graphics card and flashy RAM, Oliver switched to the Mac with a G5 iMac and hasn't looked back. Since then he's seen the growth of the smartphone world, backed by iPhone, and new product categories come and go. Current expertise includes iOS, macOS, streaming services, and pretty much anything that has a battery or plugs into a wall. Oliver also covers mobile gaming for iMore, with Apple Arcade a particular focus. He's been gaming since the Atari 2600 days and still struggles to comprehend the fact he can play console quality titles on his pocket computer.