Juliette Des Rosiers ’26
Copy Editor
On March 1, sophomores from across the 5Cs settled into the velvet seats of CMC’s Pickford Auditorium. Hits from the 2010s blasted over the audience as they chatted in excitement for the first 5C Dating Game.
As the curtains pulled back, host Hannah Conte CMC ’26 took the stage to smattering applause and cheers. As the CMC sophomore class president Ryu Nakase CMC ’26 gathered the first round of contestants, Conte explained the structure of the game. During each round, a student searching for love would ask three unique questions to four or five contestants competing for the student’s heart. The catch: the love-seeker and contestants were separated by a partition, so the love-seeker’s appearance was hidden from the contestants and vice versa, à la Love Is Blind.
Celine Aoki ’26, the Scripps sophomore class president, explained that Nakase introduced the idea for a 5C-wide sophomore Dating Game during a weekly 5C class president meeting.
“He brought up how much of a success the Dating Game was at CMC and that he and his cabinet wanted to make it a 5C Dating Game,” Aoki said. “From there, the class presidents did more promotion of the event and the CMC sophomore cabinet did more of the logistical planning, like making the matches and the questions for the interview. Every school president was in charge of making sure that at least five people from their school signed up and other people were there.”
Before each round, the Askers introduced themselves by name and school and riffed off Conte’s prompts for fun facts and what they were looking for out of the game. The contestants on both sides were pulled from all five colleges, though CMC was definitively the most represented.
When asked which was her favorite round, Aoiki smiled and had a definitive answer. “The second round with Martie as the question asker was extremely funny,” Aoki said. “The contestants did a really good job of bouncing off each other. I think that one was the most playful one and I truly think the best way to do this game was to just have fun with it.”
Martie Fairchild ’26 immediately charmed the audience with her openness and funny introduction. Additionally, her questions allowed the contestants’ personalities to shine through, and her reactions were genuine and matched their energy.
“I signed up on a whim and was kind of nervous to go on stage because there were more people than I expected, but I had a lot of fun,” Fairchild said. “My favorite question was ‘Tell me the story of your first kiss.’ I feel like I got good answers out of people and I also did not take the dating game seriously, so I think the responses that I got were more for my enjoyment rather than finding a potential match.”
After considering all the answers, Fairchild looked past the CMC and Pomona boys and chose fellow Scrippsie Hannah McKie ’26 as her winner. During the final reveal, McKie and Fairchild jumped up and down with excitement as they embraced, ending their round as light-hearted as it began.
The Scrippsie power round was a success, but not all rounds were exempt from awkward moments. For example, the first round had good questions covering contestants’ dream blunt rotation and which fictional character they would romantically pursue, but the question on which sex position they would get rid of fell flat. Some contestants took it in stride, while others seemed surprised and uneasy. The final contestant passed on answering due to discomfort.
Aoki agreed that the question was uncomfortable. Thankfully, the audience remained respectful and applauded the final Askee instead of booing him. “It probably would have been my answer too,” she said. “In my mind, I wouldn’t have minded being like ‘I’m not answering that’ because I kind of know the game I’m stepping into. But I think maybe next time we can do a little more advertising and make it more clear that if you want to participate in this you may be asked some weird stuff. But overall, I think the answer was valid.”
Additionally, the final round, a failed attempt at asking for volunteer contestants, was extremely troublesome. Responses to a Scripps student’s questions crossing the line from playfully raunchy to uncomfortably sexual. This experience could dissuade the possibility of allowing for volunteer rounds in the future and act as an incentive to add a disclaimer to the sign-up form or pre-screen potential questions. At the end of the day, a disrespectful experience isn’t a fun experience.
Although the game had some cringeworthy and awkward moments, the contestants and organizers felt the experience was an overall positive one.
“I think it was a success,” said Aoki. “There were a lot of people in the audience, which I really liked. As the game continued, people felt more comfortable being up there and contestants said they were really glad they did it.”
Fairchild echoed Aoki’s sentiment about embracing the fun in the game. “I had surprisingly more fun than I expected,” she said. “Again, I think that most college events are fun if you go into them with the mindset that they’re going to be silly and if you lean into the silliness you end up having a good time.”
