The Photo Recap

DateFlo Blind Dating Show

What you're scrolling through is one night in a San Diego backyard. We threw a live blind dating show with three rounds, each one a different blindfold twist. A cardboard box stood in for the blindfold, an LED ice cube bar ran all night, a cotton candy machine never stopped, and the audience asked half the questions. Every photo below is from that night, in order.

Chapter One of Five

Before the Show

The hour before doors opened, through the green room and bathroom that doubled as a holding area, to the moment audience members started walking down the stairs into the backyard.

May and Qudsi running through the script before doors.
May going over her script on the laptop before doors opened.
Our host Qudsi, minutes before going on.
Qudsi and Ari going over the run of show during setup.
Ari and our co-host May, calm before doors opened.
Domingo, our videographer, on shift for the night.
Walker on sound, dialing in our mics before showtime.
Brian and Jacob wheeling in our cotton candy machine.
Our cotton candy machine, getting into position.
Host mic set on a chair, ready for showtime.
Alex in our green room, waiting for Round One.
Ynessa in the green room before Round One.
Ynessa and Eris in our green room before their rounds.
Ynessa and Eris in the green room, captured horizontally.
Camilo and Alex, killing time in our green room before their rounds.
Qudsi giving Alex a pre Round One pep talk.
Cameron putting on cologne before his Round Two entrance.
Eris at the top of our stairs, blindfold in hand, Round Two seconds away.
Jimmy Sundays in the green room, waiting for his Round Three cue.
Our early arrivals on the stairs, getting interviewed by Ari before we started.
A couple arriving, walking down into the backyard.
Our crowd settling in around the belly bars before we kicked it off.
Chapter Two of Five

Round One: The Blindfolded Guy

Alex on stage, blindfolded, answering questions while the audience watched. Then Ynessa was brought down and answered her own set while Alex stayed silent. Verdict at the end: thumbs up and thumbs down.

Ynessa descending under the cardboard, our budget blindfold.
Ynessa under the cardboard, close up of the entrance blindfold.
From the back of the room, every head turned forward.
Round One on stage, captured from a side angle.
Alex from another angle, mid round.
Our host teeing up the next question.
Qudsi on stage with Alex and Ynessa, mid round.
Ynessa giving Alex a flirty answer.
Alex got the laugh he was hoping for.
Blindfolds off. Alex and Ynessa seeing each other for the first time.
Polite handshake right after we revealed them to each other.
Alex stepping in for a closer look at Ynessa.
The Round One verdict that did not match. Alex said no. Ynessa said yes.
Alex's boots, the only outfit detail you needed.
Ynessa back in our crowd, Round One in the rear view.
Chapter Three of Five

Round Two: Two Guys Competing

Cameron and Camilo on stage without blindfolds. Eris brought down blindfolded so she could not see either guy. The rest of the round was both of them competing for her answers through questions, jokes, and a lot of arm flexing.

Sending Cameron down for Round Two.
Cameron walking down the stairs to Round Two, portrait shot.
A second portrait of Cameron before Round Two.
Eris under our cardboard, headed to her round.
Blindfold on. Camilo two feet away, she has no idea.
Qudsi pitching a question to the guys.
Co-host May asking Eris and Camilo a question.
Eris putting the question on the guys herself.
Eris and Camilo, mid question.
Camilo answering, close up.
Camilo answering Eris's question while Qudsi looks on.
Camilo alone on stage, mid answer.
Cameron up next, Qudsi and Camilo in frame.
Cameron answering a question from the audience.
Eris leaning in to catch Cameron's answer.
Camilo answered one of Eris's questions by singing it. Unplanned.
Both guys facing away, Eris between them, still blind to who is who.
Eris using her hands to figure out who Camilo is.
Cameron flexing while a blindfolded Eris feels his arm.
Blindfolded Eris feeling Cameron's abs.
Eris doing the same with Camilo's abs.
Blindfolded Eris feeling Camilo's back muscles.
Cameron's arms now, Eris still making up her mind.
Cameron lands a joke. Eris laughs, Camilo watches.
Camilo reacting to one of Eris's answers.
Camilo making a face while answering.
Cameron showing off the abs solo.
Camilo showing off the abs too.
Both shirts off. Eris still blindfolded.
Cameron and Camilo, the two options.
Eris, Cameron, Camilo. The triangle.
Asked which one. Eris points. Cameron.
Blindfold off. Eris meeting Camilo for the first time.
Cameron's hand out, the second she could see him.
Cameron and Camilo walking off after Round Two.
Chapter Four of Five

Round Three: The Twist

A girl pulled from the audience onto the stage. A guy waiting in the green room. The round flipped on itself: before the blindfolds came off she said no and he said yes, and after they came off the answers swapped.

We pulled Naomi from the crowd. Round Three was on.
Another angle of Round Three. Jimmy and Naomi on stage with Qudsi.
Jimmy, Naomi, our host. The Round Three lineup.
Qudsi's question that flipped their answers.
Round Three on stage with May visible in the background.
Naomi making her case to win Jimmy after the reveal.
The Round Three flip. Pre reveal she said no, post reveal she said yes. He went the other way.
Chapter Five of Five

The Night Around the Rounds

Everything happening off the stage. Ari interviewing audience members and running magic tricks, the crowd reacting, the non alcoholic bar with LED ice cubes, belly bar candles, cotton candy between rounds, and the wristband everyone wore in.

Ari running our pre show interviews out in the backyard.
Ari interviewing a group of early arrivals.
Ari getting laughs before we had even opened doors.
Ari running a card trick between rounds.
Q and A. Our room had questions.
Our crowd trying not to laugh while a contestant cracked.
Our room losing it at something on stage.
Audience laughter from the back row.
Backyard small talk between our rounds.
Two of our regulars getting more out of this than maybe the contestants did.
An audience member running his own game between rounds.
A couple in our crowd, watching it all without a blindfold.
One face from our room, mid laugh.
Wide shot of the audience during a round.
Audience faces all turned to the stage.
Side angle on our crowd, mid round.
Eyes forward on our stage, a round in progress.
Our full backyard in one frame.
Friends gathered around one of our belly bars.
Ari and Ynessa, somewhere in our crowd.
Alex at our bar, alcohol free of course.
The last of our cotton candy between rounds.
LED ice cubes in every drink we poured. Non alcoholic bar, all night.
A candle on every belly bar we set out. There were a lot.
The wristband we handed out at the door.