Behind the Scenes on ‘Proof of Love,’ the Crypto Dating Show

It was time for Walter Prince to make his alternative. The 25-year-old had spent the earlier six hours on a Courting Recreation–impressed set, full with a rainbow-striped backdrop and a white shag rug, filming an episode of the YouTube courting present Proof of Love. He and three different guys had competed for the guts of the jumpsuit-clad bachelorette Ali Diamond in a sequence of more and more absurd challenges — a rap battle, a hot-plate cook-off, a birth-preparation session with a doula — and Prince had prevailed. Now the second had come for him to resolve whether or not to go on a date with Diamond or take a $3,000 examine and stroll away.

“It’s a tricky determination,” Prince stated, hanging his head beneath his black Yankees cap. Diamond waited expectantly, arms outstretched. “Ali, I’ve beloved attending to know you and cooking for you and, like, being faux pregnant with you,” he continued. “However — I gotta take that money.”

Tanthai Pongstien, the present’s host, dropped his flimsy prop mic and ran a circle round Prince, dashing towards the digital camera. “Let’s fucking go! Oh, shit!” Pongstien screamed, his voice going hoarse. “He rugged her! He fucking rugged her.”

That’s cryptospeak for scammed — and Prince’s money can be rendered in ethereum. It was a Wednesday night time in Greenpoint, and we had been on the studio–cum–workplace house of Mad Realities, a collective of eight core workforce members and 437 NFT holders, which its founders name the world’s first crypto-powered manufacturing studio. Each week since early March, Mad Realities has been taking pictures episodes of Proof of Love, funded by more than 172 ETH (presently value about $505,000) that the founders raised by way of the sale of NFTs. These NFTs got here with the suitable to vote on main choices like casting each week’s new bachelor or bachelorette in addition to the present’s 24-year-old host, who runs two UX/UI-design businesses. “I’m right here for clout. I’m right here for the vibe,” Pongstien stated. “However that is additionally a method to kick-start my leisure profession.” He claimed he couldn’t title a single reality-TV present.

Within the minds of many individuals on this room, crypto might be the savior of a damaged leisure trade — and Mad Realities might be the savior of an insular crypto universe. Co-founders Alice Ma, 26, and Devin Lewtan, 23, in addition to Mad Realities head of artistic Adam Faze, 24, assume these sorts of exhibits might resonate past group chats and Tech Twitter. As Ma put it, they wish to “permeate the tradition. Like, reliable tradition.”

The present’s premise is straightforward: On the finish of each taping, the profitable contestant can select to go on a date with their newly beloved and are available again for the Could 1 season finale, the place they’ll compete for a jackpot presently value about $15,000 (to be paid in ethereum, in fact) — or they’ll select a nontrivial sum and stroll away. The present’s pacing is staccato, riddled with onscreen graphics and memes, courtesy of editor Ari Cagan. “The web is so critical typically, particularly Crypto Twitter. Everybody’s very targeted on getting cash,” stated Lewtan, who’s additionally Mad Realities’ CEO. “We needed to create an area for actual individuals to return on and lean into the bit.” And moreover, she stated, “conventional Hollywood will not be maintaining with the instances.” Ma and Lewtan thought a Web3 courting present could be the type of factor that’s simply bizarre sufficient to get individuals speaking. It hasn’t occurred fairly but: The most-viewed episode simply cracked 6,000 views.

On set, vapes of varied makes and substances had been surreptitiously hit by their streetwear-clad house owners. A few guys handed round an Oculus headset like a joint, enjoying a fishing sport within the metaverse. The studio pulsed with the power of 20-somethings drunk on the sensation of being in cost — in addition to being actually drunk: A folding desk that after supported a tidy row of liquor bottles was now plagued by half-empties.

“Often there’s somebody within the room who’s a 50-year-old govt who funded the factor,” stated Ma. “So that you type of should be PC in sure methods, or you’ll be able to’t curse, or you’ll be able to’t make sure jokes that could be thought of model injury to them. We actually get to do no matter we would like with it.” For contestants, the workforce scoured its networks for probably the most outlandish mutuals they may discover — individuals like Prince, who, arriving on set, advised me he was “fiscally 45, bodily 24,” and through his on-camera confessional stated he was on the lookout for somebody to, “for lack of a greater phrase, suck the soul out of me.” After I requested him what he did for work, he described himself as “a clout-chaser.” (He additionally works at a text-message advertising firm.) To date, he’s been the one contestant to decide on cash over a date.

The truth that they’d know somebody like Prince isn’t stunning: Ma was a core contributor to ConstitutionDAO, the group of “degens” that attempted to purchase the Structure final fall. Faze did a quick stint within the movie division at Annapurna, however he’s in all probability finest identified for showing to be the ex-boyfriend of Olivia Rodrigo. (Regardless of copious paparazzi proof, neither confirmed their relationship.) Lewtan, a former product engineer at a software program firm, was one of many ladies behind “NYU Girls Roasting Tech Guys,” a COVID-era Clubhouse courting present she and her co-founders referred to as a “bar simulation” once they launched it final 12 months. One other NYU Woman, Sarah Jannetti, now runs Mad Realities’ operations. In contrast to on that Clubhouse present, crypto — and crypto shilling — are integral to Proof of Love. Even the present’s title is a play on the blockchain terminology of “proof of stake” or “proof of labor,” that are completely different mechanisms used to confirm new transactions. Since contestants are largely drawn from the groups’ social networks, many skew towards crypto enthusiasm. “Purchase our fucking NFTs!” Pongstien yelled into the digital camera.

I already had. Proper across the time Eric Adams announced he would take his first three mayoral paychecks in bitcoin final fall, I grew to become intensely inquisitive about crypto. I began shopping for a couple of NFTs, and in January, I bought one in all Mad Realities’ “Genesis Move” NFTs, an animation of a floating rose, for round $300. I quickly came upon that the boundaries in crypto are porous: It’s the type of place the place founders will freely up-bid their very own auctions and nameless Twitter trolls could make worth fluctuate with the stroke of a keyboard. I opted to promote my Mad Realities NFT earlier than publishing this story, asking the identical quantity I had paid for it; it obtained snapped up lower than 4 minutes later.

It’s onerous to say whether or not Mad Realities is actually aiming to disrupt Hollywood or if that is simply one other tech start-up, one trying to capitalize on the big sum of money flowing into the crypto house. It’s attainable {that a} Kickstarter and a gaggle chat might yield the identical outcomes. “It’s humorous as a result of our YouTube views are like, advantageous,” stated Faze. “However in individual, now we have this group of individuals which are like, ‘Oh my God, it’s Mad Realities Sunday.’” A number of days after the shoot the place Prince took the money, the Mad Realities workforce hosted an episode premiere and panel on the NFT gallery Shiny Moments in Soho. Greater than 250 individuals confirmed up — practically double the venue’s capability — and shaped a line outdoors. The bottom was plagued by rose petals, a nod to Mad Realities’ NFT graphics. A waitress circulated with a tray of photographs. Butterfly clips abounded. One girl wore a show-stopping zebra-print set; Prince confirmed up with a date carrying an oversize black chain hanging from the again of her denims.

These individuals had been clearly not all right here for the blockchain. Even for individuals who are literally in tech, the actual attraction of crypto is the group. The within-joke phrases (rug pull, HODL, WAGMI), the overall ridiculousness, the excessive barrier to entry each when it comes to information and finance: It’s all making the web really feel small once more, no less than for a subset of individuals. On the after-party, I used to be approached by a member of Buddies With Advantages, probably the most well-known crypto social clubs. (It’s additionally one of many most maligned, partially as a result of it will probably value the equal of hundreds of {dollars} to affix as a full member.) “On the finish of the day, this can be a undertaking to get acquired by somebody,” the crypto bro stated of the Mad Realities present. “If any NFT undertaking is about to get swallowed up, that is what that’s. Proof of idea.” Then he threatened to sue me if I used his title on this story.

Mad Realities’ founders think about Proof of Love might be a silver bullet, the factor that may lastly get the skin world to grasp crypto’s potential with out the crypto stigma. However the actuality is that the world of crypto continues to be unstable and poorly regulated: Over one weekend in January, the value of bitcoin plummeted, taking with it $130 billion. Additionally there’s not a lot stopping somebody from organising a undertaking, promoting NFTs, and working away with the cash. (It’s happened more than a few instances, and the DOJ is just starting to catch up.)

Even at a small scale, Mad Realities’ chaos has sometimes veered out of the founders’ management. Throughout every week’s episode premiere, the workforce auctions off an NFT that may be a distinctive version, which is known as a 1/1. The profitable bidder will get a producer credit score, sponsorship rights, and the ability to solid anybody they need as a contestant within the subsequent episode. The week I visited the set, Ma, Lewtan, and different members of the core workforce had been coping with a disaster involving the newest winner: After this individual had secured their 1/1, they went on a satirical Twitter rant about eager to ship an unhoused individual to compete on Proof of Love to “show that house-free individuals are simply as sexually fascinating and sizzling as different teams, if no more.” In response, the bachelorette, Diamond, threatened to give up, outraged on the thought of somebody “using a houseless person as a prop.”

The 1/1 winner turned out to be trolling. Even so, the workforce needed to scramble, responding to suggestions and denouncing the tweets whereas attempting to get a protocol in place to vet individuals nominated for the present. “We thought the chaos was going to be extra like somebody deciding to ship a present to a contestant. We’ve very considerate, type individuals in our group,” Lewtan advised me. “Even simply jokes like this, associating with our model … I imply, it’s prime of thoughts.” For the primary time, they had been confronting what might occur whenever you let strangers bid on artistic management. In the event that they weren’t ready, Lewtan acknowledged, “This might flip dystopian in a short time.”