Mixed reactions to $2,000 matchmaking commission offered by S'pore PR
A woman has offered a reward of $2,000 to anyone who introduces her a "straight man" who would have a relationship with her for at least six months.
Chengdu-born Bella Dai, 29, shared her dating criteria and $2,000 referral reward on her Instagram account @bellzdai in February this year.
According to her post, she is looking out for a “straight man aged 25 to 42” who lives in Singapore and has “mastery of his craft, with focus and discipline”.
Potential partners must also care about their “wellness and fitness”, be able to face difficult conversations and open to exploring spirituality and religions as “self-development tools”.
According to The Straits Times, the founder of a wellness company moved to Singapore when she was 15 years old and has a degree in design art from Nanyang Technological University.
“I realised the struggle we have with finding a relationship is the search,” said the Chinese national who is a Singapore permanent resident.
Her longest relationship lasted for four years and the last one ended in 2020.
Ms Dai has since received five referrals from friends, accompanied by the candidate’s Instagram or LinkedIn profile.
Two of those became serious, and she has gone out on three dates with one of them.
Ms Dai's post received mixed reviews from netizens, with some pointing out that although she stated her own criteria, she did not share what she had to offer in return.
Others also commented that she was applying work principles to dating and it sounded too much like a job application, with one saying it was akin to asking his kids to schedule a meeting with him by sending a calendar invite.
There was also a lot of speculation over what Ms Dai meant by “mastery in his craft”, while others wondered what happened in her past relationships to have her resort to this.
Among the netizens commenting how Ms Dai's search for a partner was transactional was one Redditor who gave a different point of view.
"Having lived overseas, I realised that in Singapore, we have a culture that frowns upon paying for matchmaking services," explained the Redditor.
"People who do so are seen as 'despo', and the expectation is that if you do pay for such services you're just gonna meet other 'despos'.
"But overseas, singles openly ask their friends to set them up.
"My friends and colleagues openly talk to me about using matchmaking services and tell me about their dates, which actually sounded way better than Tinder dates due to added structure and the lower likelihood of being ghosted."
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