Dating Dilemma: Would You Bring A Friend On a Blind Date?


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Did you know one out of five relationships begin online? Well apparently more than 25 million people got that memo and are hedging their bets as members of online dating. Damn, where have I been? Might have to re-evaluate my strategy.

But before you start choosing your most attractive profile picture and lying about your height, listen up. Of these millions, one in five has a criminal background of some kind. That makes up 20% of the interactive dating population.

So, what to do in order to prevent ending up on an episode of To Catch a Predator?

Well, you could hit up Andy Scott and Robert Buchholz ofMyMatchChecker.com to run a background check? But that sounds like a buzzkill, no?

Or perhaps try couples dating with new site, DuoDater which encourages friends to go on dates... together. You just sign up and create a joint profile with a friend. Then search for matches and suggest group dates.

While I personally feel dating is a solo mission, this could be a good approach for the chronically shy or paranoid. But you're already dating online, so a bit of trust is inherent to the process.

It might initially make you feel more confident to go into the so-scary blind date with some backup but what if your intended guy ends up liking your friend? Or worse, both guys like her? No bueno.

I say bite the bullet. If you're going to date online do it all the way and on your own. Browse with your friends but show up alone. Before the date, call your girl, tell her you're meeting a stranger and where you're going. Then strap on your high heels, a smile and leave your phone in your bag. Only to be seen if he is a total loser or menace.

But if you ARE down for the group thing head to DuoDater and be one of the first 250 to enter the code "MASHABLE" and the new frontier of interactive double dating is all yours, baby.

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