A new viral dating craze called ‘Pitch a Friend’ is set to take Ireland by storm.

Last night, Foley’s Bar on Dublin’s Merrion Row hosted the first Pitch a Friend event in Ireland for a sold-out crowd.

The viral dating event sees people get ‘pitched’ by a friend to a crowd of eligible singletons. 

The ‘hype’ man or woman has three minutes to deliver a PowerPoint presentation outlining their friend’s green flags, dating preferences and special interests.

A two minute question and answer session afterwards allows the audience to ask any follow up questions about the single person.

Fun & light-hearted

Pitch a Friend was created by Lucas Chaufournie, founder of the Seattle Social Club, who visited Dublin for last night’s dating event in a consultant capacity.

“With dating apps, anyone can create a perfect profile and then you show up and they don't match a single thing, right? Because it's all idealistic,” he said.

“So, that gets really stressful if you're doing that over and over. 

“Then, you're going into this connection being very nervous and that can make it really hard to sort of put on your best self.

“Dating does not have to be stressful; it does not have to feel like something you need to take a break from - it should be fun, it should be light-hearted.

“Everyone should feel comfortable going to these kinds of events.”

Pitch a Friend dating event in Foley's Bar. Image: Newstalk

Pitch a Friend Ireland organiser Gráinne O’Hogan said she is confident the event will ‘work’ in Ireland as Irish people “love to laugh” and are “great storytellers”.

“I'm really hoping tonight is a success and people come away having made at least some new friends, some good connections and maybe more,” she said.

The 80-person event last night was completely sold out, with Ms O’Hogan already getting requests to run similar evenings in Cork, Galway and Dingle.

Ms O’Hogan said that for a lot of people when they turn 30 their friend group “starts to evolve”.

“People have other commitments, they have partners, they have kids, and you need a new way to evolve your social circle,” she said.

“So, I think the more you can create these kind of events where people have that chance just to meet other people their age, who are maybe in more of a similar phase of life to them, I just think that's a huge bonus.”

Two participants in Pitch a Friend - a dating event. Image: Newstalk

After the presentations and before the raffle, attendees mingle and have a chance to approach potential matches.

At this point, attendees spoke about how the event went for them.

“Well, for me, it was kind of a surprise seeing how much love there was with the friends pitching their friends,” one woman said.

“I was kind of here on the singles night basis but I was really taken aback with how much love they had for their friends.”

"Hilarious"

Another woman said that “these types of events” usually “have no hook to them”.

“You just have to wander and chat to people, whereas this is entertainment, if nothing else happens on the night, that's been hilarious,” she said.

A male attendee said he found the event very “personal”.

“You get a feel for the person, you know, their friends are talking about them,” he said. 

“So, you get a good idea of their strengths and thing. 

“It's definitely different to the app type setup, for sure.

“Hopefully more similar stuff will appear.”

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Reporting by Sarah Madden.

Main image: Pitch a Friend took place in Foley's Bar. 20/11/2024 Image: Newstalk