Lucille McCart - 24 Hour Live Stream

Tommy: The Daily Talk Show.

Josh: It's The Daily Talk Show, Episode 721, recorded during our 24-hour livestream, and this one is with Lucille McCart, the APAC Associate Director at Bumble. And she has some great insights into online dating, what's working, what's not, how to open the conversation, gender stereotypes. It's a great conversation. I hope you enjoy this one. This is with Lucille McCart.

Josh: Lucille McCart, welcome from Bumble Australia. You're the Associate Director APAC PR and Comms. So are people using Bumble more being in ISO? Oh, sorry, I've fucked your audio. Give me 2 seconds. Hang on, this is a nightmare.

Mason: That's all good.

Josh: Standby. I told you, didn't I? Hang on, here we go. There we go. Sorry about that, Lucille. So yeah, that's perfect.

Lucille: Perfect. I was— I said something really smart when you cut me off.

Josh: We missed it. Can you try and repeat? I know it never sounds as smart the second time, but yeah, are people using Bumble more in ISO?

Lucille: Yes, they are. We've seen a lot of changes in the way people use the app globally. We've seen 26% increase in the volume of messages sent. So people are talking more through the chat platform, exchanging a greater number of messages between matches. So those text conversations going on longer. And 56% increase in video chat. So people doing virtual dates over video chat in the app has really skyrocketed. That wasn't really something that was part of people's routines before because they probably just wanted to go and get a drink or go for a coffee with someone and meet them in person. When you can't do that, you have to find other ways to keep that connection moving forward.

Tommy: Lucille, I'm out of the game, have been for quite some time. I remember when— I won't say their name— competitor, uh, came about. I sort of dabbled a little bit. How much has it changed since you've been with the company in terms of what the capabilities of a dating app are?

Lucille: I think it's come— all of the technology available has come such a long way since dating apps first were introduced in Australia. But along with that, I think they're just part of what people in their 20s and 30s and older do as part of their routine now. It's a lot more part of our culture and our society. But things like video chat, chatting within the app, that wasn't really possible before we introduced that 6 months ago. We actually introduced it as a safety feature so that you could see the person that you were talking to before you decided to give them your number or go and meet them. It's obviously taken on a whole new use case in this environment, but I think that's something that, you know, the industry evolves so fast, and I think this is something that probably people will keep doing. Because, you know, it is a really good stepping stone. You can, you can save yourself a few, um, maybe a few bad dates if you can, you know, cheque that connection with someone before you meet them. Because, you know, you get on a video call with someone and you know immediately if the banter that you had over text is going to translate into a face-to-face interaction. And so it's so much easier to know, okay, you know, maybe that person's, you know, better off as a friend, or no, that person is definitely someone that I want to get to know better in a romantic sense.

Josh: Yeah, I mean, uh, Mr. 97, uh, he has just, uh, started, uh, dating someone. He has a girlfriend, she's based in Perth, uh, they've, uh, and 97's in Melbourne. They've never met face to face. Uh, I mean, I, I feel real.

Tommy: She's real.

Josh: She is real. And so that's always a good first step. I mean, that shouldn't be there. I mean, it's a non-negotiable, isn't it, that they're real? But I think that if that's the benchmark. So do you have any— in your role, I guess you get to hear a lot of storeys about these sort of digital relationships. Do you have any tips for Mr. 97 on how we can sort of navigate this?

Lucille: Well, how much do— what base point are we starting from for this level of advice? Because I've got some general tips about how deep do we need to go.

Josh: 97, go for it. You feel free to ask any questions.

Mason: Well, I mean, so we've— it's been about 20 days since we started dating.

Lucille: Not counting.

Josh: About 20 days.

Mason: Yeah, hashtag not counting. Yeah, that's cute. But no, we've just— we've been FaceTiming.

Josh: No, you don't tell us when you're cute. We tell you when you're cute. But it was cute.

Mason: Yeah, so we've been FaceTiming and stuff, and so that's been fun. But yeah, I guess, have you seen any sort of common themes through people using like video chat or Bumble to sort of not only meet people, but sort of like sustain the relationship without seeing each other in person?

Lucille: Yeah, absolutely. I mean, no one has much to talk about right now, as you guys have probably discovered 12 hours into a podcast livestream. So, you know, if you're just chatting with someone, you really need to be able to find ways to get to know each other better. So it's about trying to mimic a real life date. So where previously you might have taken her out to dinner, maybe you can follow the same recipe, cook the same thing together at home, or, you know, make the same cocktail, drink the same bottle of wine, listen to a playlist, like share your Spotify playlist together. Just think about what those real-life experiences that you enjoy are and see how you can do that virtually. Because when you, when you start to come up with those sort of creative ideas, it can be really fun.

Tommy: I actually love that. Like, I think I've, um, been of the, uh, the age where I, I think, you know, I want that spark in real life. I want to meet them, which is how I ended up with my wife. But I, I, I am feeling like I understand it a bit more with just this, you know, um, isolation and leaning into that sort of weird feeling that I think everyone's having about, you know, communicating via online and video chat. And I— and it's almost— it's— yeah, I feel, um, it's— it is the new one. I mean, I haven't stumbled— there's no exclusive banner to run here, Josh, but I feel like I'm starting to understand it. I'm starting to understand this shit.

Josh: But I mean, what do you— what's the— what's the company line on, um sexting? Like, is Bumble— like, is sexting a thing that you can do on the app? Where do you draw the line?

Lucille: Well, you know, if you're two consenting adults doing that in a safe manner, then, you know, whatever it takes to keep, you know, you sane during these very strange times. We've got very strict policies around unsolicited you know, sharing the images. Yeah, they're definitely banned if they're unsolicited. We've got technology in the app that blurs photos when they're sent between users and detects if they're lewd images and gives you the image— the option to report it if you don't like what you see. But if If it's consensual, you can opt in to say that, and you can enjoy or not enjoy, or whatever the result might be.

Josh: TJ, I feel, I know we do one for one, but I feel like this, I'm on a bit of a roll with this subject. Casey says, "JJ, do you consider sexting texts or images?" I mean, Lucille, where do you sort of define sexting?

Lucille: Well, I mean, sky's the limit, really. But I think, you know, it might— what might start out as, you know, a bit of flirty banter, I think, is always a good sign that a relationship is developing in a healthy way. And if you want to take it to the next level with photos or videos or whatever it might be, I think the advice would just be to do that in as safe a way as possible.

Josh: Yeah, sure.

Tommy: Let's talk data. That gets me going. Um, oh, in terms of—

Lucille: is that your, your sexy?

Tommy: That's all I got these days. Just tell me the numbers, tell me the numbers. What, um, in terms of— well, in terms of, uh, understanding, uh, not even numbers, but like, how is the app, um, tracking what people open with? And is there some kind of common phrases that is almost getting that next level of access? I know Bumble is, uh, they need to be accepted in, you know, it's like the girl makes the first move. But is there a theme? Are you seeing— are you able to create some killer—

Mason: are you just asking for the best pickup lines?

Josh: Yeah, absolutely.

Tommy: But not for me, not for me.

Lucille: Well, yeah, so women have to make the first move on Bumble, so the, the match can't, can't start, can't get going until, um, the woman has has started the conversation. So we have conversation starter prompts in the app. Some of the really successful ones are things like, were Ross and Rachel on a break? That gets a conversation going really fast. Pineapple on pizza, yes or no, all those really classic things.

Josh: This is just regional radio content for phone.

Lucille: This is great. I mean, it's give the people what they want, right? And what performs terribly, ladies, if you're listening, is just being like, hey, you know, like, put a bit of effort in, like, ask a question, use their name, you know, make it personal. But guys as well probably need to be a bit better at making it easier. Like, if you've got two photos on your profile and no bio, it doesn't really give anyone much to work with. So it's about making sure that you're, um, you know, you're giving them a great starting point.

Tommy: I just had a— it was almost regional radio days. I remember, um, when the competitor, uh, Bumble, uh, was around. Lucille, your name's not Bumble. Um, the Tigers photos, 15 PM, it was— I know, I've been going for 12 hours. This was pre-Tiger King days. I remember it was like a real common theme.

Josh: Pre-Tiger King days.

Tommy: On your profile photo.

Mason: That, mate, 3 weeks ago.

Tommy: Pre-Tiger King days, like—

Lucille: I actually know exactly what you're talking about.

Josh: What is the pre-Tiger King days? Sorry, what is it?

Tommy: It's just a reference. It's just a modern-day reference that—

Lucille: Posing with tigers.

Josh: But pre-Tiger King day was—

Lucille: Like a tiger.

Josh: Okay, yeah, I know what you mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Tommy: Don't worry, Lucille got it.

Josh: But before 2020, but pre— But you're sounding, yeah, anyway, sorry. That's not—

Lucille: Yeah, get rid of them. If you're a guy and you're listening and you've got a photo of a tiger on your profile, you can do better. I'm sure you can do better.

Mason: What makes a great bio?

Lucille: Great bio is funny. If you are a funny person, that's the best way to get a girl's attention is with a funny bio. What if you're not funny?

Josh: Like 97% doesn't have a sense of humor. Should he avoid the comedy? Should he play it just completely sort of straight, real serious.

Lucille: Yeah. Hey, if you are not funny, then just stick to the facts— what, what you like, what you enjoy. The real something that's easy for them to, you know, ask you a question or get going. Yeah.

Tommy: Yeah. I just want to throw out a hypothetical. Do you think this would be a good opener within a conversation? Um, nachos, quinoa or no quinoa?

Lucille: Uh, well, I think it would be very controversial. I think you definitely get a response. I can't say.

Josh: Have you ever had not chosen quinoa? Yeah, personally, no.

Mason: No.

Josh: Yeah, I mean, people, 97.

Tommy: People, absolutely.

Lucille: Yeah, I'd have some follow-up questions, mostly where you would— oh, why?

Mason: Why? Yeah, yeah, why?

Josh: Explain the quinoa.

Mason: Why the quinoa? Oh, it's just, it's just to fill it out. Like, you're putting in veggies like sweet potato and pumpkin and stuff, and you you're grating it in. And so the quinoa is just like— yeah, it's, it's a one-pot. She's blocked you. Nachos.

Tommy: She's blocked you.

Lucille: Yeah, yeah, with mac and cheese.

Mason: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lucille: And you want to fill it out a bit more.

Tommy: It's absolutely crazy.

Josh: He didn't even have melted cheese when he made us his, his nachos. He hands it and he's like, oh, one last thing, and he goes and gets some cheese and just grates a little bit on top.

Lucille: I'm like, what are you Well, I don't know what you're eating, but it's not nachos.

Josh: Yeah, it's definitely not. And so are you— so when you joined Bumble, what was your relationship status, and has that been impacted with the type of job you have?

Lucille: I was single when I started working at Bumble. I'm still single. I don't know what you might want to draw from that, but I definitely use the app, and I've noticed a lot a lot more people on there now really, um, like wanting to talk more, wanting to have like— everyone wants to talk about, you know, lockdown and isolation, but then I feel like a conversation moves to something more, I guess, like what you would call as a more authentic conversation a bit faster than maybe you would get to that kind of stuff normally, because normally you'd you maybe save the big talk for a date or an in-person conversation.

Josh: With all the ISO stuff, how's your screen time going?

Lucille: Through the roof. Yeah.

Josh: Shame. Yeah. What are you spending your time on? What apps?

Lucille: All of them, mindlessly. It's like, you know, when you open your phone and then all 15 minutes have gone by and you don't know what you've done. I'm very Um, not a mindful user at the moment. Um, but yeah, a lot of Netflix, a lot of Spotify, a lot of Instagram, a lot of email, you know, all of the work, work stuff as well. Um, and Bumble, obviously.

Tommy: Yeah, I wonder what the, um, like the most time spent in-app on Bumble— would you know that?

Lucille: Well, I think it varies at different— like, certainly the busiest day for us is Sunday. Or it has been historically. I think that's when everyone's like, right, okay, I'm gonna, I'm gonna think about what I might have done over the weekend and I'm gonna set myself up with some, some dates for the week. Um, and normally, um, in the evenings is our most active time. So Sunday evening, if you're looking for a match, that's the time to get on.

Josh: Sunday, Sunday evening.

Tommy: JJ, it's like two bottles of wine.

Josh: Sad on Sunday.

Tommy: Bit sad and you want to find some companionship. Hey, um, uh, there's no such thing as bad PR. Is that still a thing? Like, is there bad PR for a brand like Bumble?

Lucille: Oh yeah, there's bad— bad PR is definitely possible, I think, for every brand. Um, I think that saying probably has some merit in the sense that, um, you— it depends what you're looking for, right? If you just want everyone to know who you are and you don't care what they know you for, um, then, then the saying is true. But if you want— if you stand for something, or if you have a really clear business message that you want to communicate, then absolutely bad PR is a problem if it gets your message wrong. Even if it's not, uh, overly negative, if it doesn't communicate what you want to say correctly, then it's not serving you.

Josh: What do you think about, um, adding people on other social networks once you've met on Bumble. So when 97, uh, you know, started talking to his girlfriend before it all sort of kicked off, uh, I was like, uh, hey, have you seen these?

Mason: Can we just do context on, on, on what it was? So we, we had a show phone number that we were texting our VIP listeners through, and so that's, that's where I started.

Josh: And so that's where it started. And the problem was that because it was like a commercial phone number we were paying per text message, and so we got a huge phone bill, and we just said, '97, you're gonna have to take this onto your, your personal stuff.' And so that is— so that's how it started. But I, I'm curious as to, um, I straight away said, 'Sevs, you got to be Googling just for even content, just for— just to know like what to talk about.' It's like, 'Oh, you know, she posted that she was at this festival in 2010. Oh, that's— let's weave that in. What's, what's your take on the, this sort of, uh, not the stalk— I don't like using that word— but doing a bit of research and then add context and adding people on social?

Lucille: Totally normal to do a background check. Totally normal, totally acceptable to just do a bit of, uh, research, you know, as, as it might be. You can actually link your Instagram to your Bumble profile, which really will help your potential matches in, in their background research. Um, but yeah, totally normal.

Josh: Mutual connection, like, are they looking at, um, like if you had a blue tick, if you're verified, would that— do you think that people who are verified get more sort of, uh, you know, have more cut-through?

Lucille: So the blue tick on Bumble actually means something different to what it means on Instagram. So if you have a blue tick on Bumble, it means that you've used our photo verification software, so you've verified that you are who you say you are. It's anti-catfishing technology. Um, but your blue tick on Instagram, um, which obviously is a very different thing, doesn't carry over. So, um, you know, maybe that's in your— you better put that in your bio, you know, have a blue tick. That's a conversation starter.

Josh: Definitely.

Tommy: I mean, it gets my attention, blue ticks. Yeah, but I'm basically—

Lucille: I'm a basic, you know, you have a blue tick. Anyone here got a blue tick?

Tommy: And absolutely not. No, I appreciate you asking.

Lucille: Yeah, I was—

Josh: yeah, okay, well, you're being nice. I was just a little humble.

Tommy: How about this? We've, we've had a bunch of blue ticks, blue tickers on the show. Uh, we got one coming up after you.

Lucille: Yeah, um, I don't have a blue tick.

Josh: Yeah, we're friends with blue ticks, but we're not blue ticks, you know.

Lucille: Yeah, you're blue tick.

Josh: Exactly.

Josh: We can put that in our bio.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Yeah, we could put— yeah, definitely. And, um, and so are you, uh, is, is Bumble like a distributed workforce or how does it work from a, like, a working day-to-day, especially with all the COVID-19 stuff?

Lucille: Yeah, so our, um, head office is in Austin, Texas, uh, which is a fantastic place to visit if you've ever been there.

Josh: Have you been there?

Mason: Did you—

Josh: have you done like work trips there?

Lucille: Yeah, so the Hive, as we call it, uh, Bumble HQ in Austin, is amazing. It's very yellow and, um, very— it's a, like, if you can picture Bumble as a workplace, it basically is the brand come to life. Our CEO Whitney Wolfherd was really instrumental in designing it to make it a really empowering representation of the brand and, like, an amazing place people to go to work every day. So that's where a huge amount of our team is based. They're all obviously working from home at the moment like everyone else. And then our team is part of a regional office based in Sydney. We've got other teams in other places like that around the world, like Mexico, India, Germany. So we've got 5 people in our team here based in Sydney, but we're working from home at the moment. But we're a digital business, so, and because we're a global business, that has always had to be connected digitally to the other offices around the world. It wasn't a huge leap for us to have to work from home. It's just obviously, you know, not great for the productivity, but, but not— we're very lucky in Australia, so it's not nothing to complain about.

Tommy: I love a good work perk, and I could imagine that a company like Bumble that actually, you know, it seems to be one of the tech companies that is doing really well Um, what are some, what are some, uh, work perks that you're getting?

Lucille: Work perks, um, you know, free Bumble Boost is a good one, you know, and very nice, you know, you can see who's swiped right on you, really real time saver. Um, but from my work, from the job perspective, just the exposure to so many amazing things that are happening around the world. Um, you know, I've been to Austin, I've been to Singapore, I've been to Salt Lake City, Utah, you know, some really amazing places and experiences and people that you get to work with that, you know, you would never get in another job.

Josh: Is Bumble big in the Mormon community? Like, what was happening in Salt Lake City?

Lucille: We had a conference there, but yeah, probably. Why not? Yeah, everyone needs to meet someone somewhere.

Josh: Yeah, definitely. I just wonder about, like, are there certain interesting niches or sort of like industry? Like, what are the sort of— can you find out the top industries of the, the types of people? Like, if you're wanting a marketing and comms, uh, partner, like, is this, is this the, is this the platform? If you, if you want a tradie, are there tradies on Bumble? Like, what would you have those details?

Lucille: All type, all types of people on Bumble. We just hit 4 million users in Australia, um, so there's a lot of people on the platform. And when you have, um, you know, that volume of of users, it is very diverse. So if you're looking for a tradie or if you're looking for a, for a marketing executive, I guarantee you could probably find both, um, and match with them if you so pick at the crack.

Mason: I think, um, I think Bumble's done a, um, a great job in differentiating itself from, you know, its competitors through like Bumble BFF or Bumble Biz. What was the idea behind sort of launching those products and having these different avenues of communication for people?

Lucille: Yeah, so Bumble BFF, both of the third, second and third modes of Bumble launched, they came about quite organically from the way that we were noticing people use the app. So BFF launched about 2 years after Bumble launched as a dating app, and it was because we were seeing people on the platform using it to find friends because they might be like, look, I met someone on this app who's really great, but I met some really amazing people and I want to keep using the product. Or they were like, I'm in a relationship, but I've just moved to a new city and I don't know anyone and I need a way to meet people. So that's how the idea was born, to sort of create a specific mode for that kind of connection. And then our CEO Whitney, who I mentioned before, ended up hiring someone in Austin that she connected with on Bumble BFF, which sort of sparked the idea of, well, there's actually nowhere online aside from like LinkedIn to meet people near you because, you know, LinkedIn is a, is a global platform, but everything about Bumble is geo-targeted. So it's about meeting someone who's potentially down the road from you who could be a business connection. So it was about trying to create a place online where people can do digital mentoring and digital networking and all of those sorts of things, that there wasn't really a space for that.

Josh: LinkedIn.

Tommy: So I was just going to say, imagine if you get dropped into this conversation from 100 years ago into this, just trying to—

Josh: this is where Tommy's at, right?

Tommy: Yeah, yeah.

Josh: Oh mate, it's a good—

Tommy: it's a fun ball, let alone a podcast.

Lucille: I think my grandma, my grandma, 87, and I've shown her Bumble. And she loves, loves it.

Tommy: Really? Yeah.

Josh: It's just like, I mean, it makes sense. I mean, what I was going to say is they were down.

Lucille: She was like, is he downstairs? Um, is he coming here right now?

Josh: She's like, yes, she's confusing it for Uber Eats. It's not like you order him, you know. But, um, you don't want to get them confused, your Uber Eats with Bumble. Just some guys, poor guys trying to give you a burrito and you're like, come on, in.

Lucille: I mean, we do a lot for you, but we're not a delivery service.

Josh: Um, the LinkedIn gets criticised by a bunch of women for being, um, a bit of a cesspool for sleazy execs who love getting into the, the, um, the DMs or whatever and, and, you know, messaging. What's the, um, going into the business side of Bumble, how do you avoid it getting into that weird sleazy area where it's like, oh, is this work? Or, uh, like, is this a thing?

Lucille: Yeah, I mean, LinkedIn is a great platform and it has a really great use case, but that is definitely a problem that I think almost every woman on there has encountered at some point. Um, when it comes to Bumble, the three modes— date, BFF, and biz— are all totally separate modes within the one app. So you have if you were to sign up to all three, you would have three different profiles, and you would— so you could potentially see the same person, you know, three different times, because when you're in date mode, you're matching with other date users, and when you're in BFF, you're matching with other BFF users, and so on. And we're very clear that of what those modes are for. And, you know, if you are in biz mode, that is not a place to recruit a date. If you are looking for that, you should be over over here, not over there. And it's really about making that very clear through the way that the product is presented as well. Like, Biz looks a bit different. It looks, you know, your profile is more of a sort of resume style. It's very clear what is the purpose of connecting there. And as well as that, women using Biz can choose to connect with, to be able to match with men and women, or just women if they're just looking to network with or be mentored by women.

Tommy: We were talking manners before with Mr. 97. I caught him licking his knife, and you know, he's, no, I'm at home, I do what I want. But I said to him, mate, what, can't lick your knife? He said, what, because it'll hurt my tongue? Absolutely not, it's just a no-go.

Lucille: That's not the reason why.

Tommy: I mean, but that's a whole nother discussion. What about, um, First date, who pays?

Lucille: The first date, I think you split the bill. I mean, in my mind, I think it's very a traditional thing, or the person who asked the person out can pay. You know, whoever initiated the date is like one way to do it as well. But like, I think all the girls are paying on Bumble.

Tommy: All the girls.

Lucille: Yeah, exactly. If you've met, if you've made the first move You know, you put yourself out there. Why is it that it's not the role of a man or a woman to do anything that's particularly, you know, nothing is set in stone like that anymore. I think we play into these gender stereotypes that don't mean anything, you know. Why does it have to be that way? I think, you know, split the bill.

Josh: What about like when it comes to actually, like, what was that? Sorry, the last bit there.

Lucille: I pay for the first date, you pay for the second date.

Josh: Yeah, I mean, that's good if you want a second date. You're locking them in. It's almost a little bit, look, I'll pay for this one if we have a second one. I don't know about the intentions of that one, Lucille. It's a little bit of a gotcha, isn't it?

Lucille: Because then— yeah, because otherwise—

Josh: well, because otherwise you're sort of like, hey, I know the second date didn't happen, but here's my BSB and account number.

Lucille: Yeah, um, transfer me $35.

Josh: I mean, um, places to go for your first date. Um, uh, Mr. 97, we actually did a whole campaign with the Shameless Podcast back over a year ago where we sort of allowed them to, um, uh, pimp him out to their community. And, um, and he went on a couple of dates with a little bit of resistance, but he went into it. And so, uh, Well, Seb, explain those dates. What were the different dates?

Mason: Well, so, the first one was a walk in a dog park. So, I brought my dog and she had her dog and they had— we all had a little playdate at the park. And then we went to the supermarket and got some food to cook.

Josh: You're talking like you're in trouble. You just— You're fine. Keep going.

Mason: Really? Yeah. No, but so, yeah, so we got some food and then we, then we went back to her place and cooked up some like wraps, I think it was.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: So that was the first. He copied and pasted that for the second.

Mason: And then this, and then the second one was similar, just minus the dog and we made pizzas instead.

Josh: And they're probably real dumb healthy pizzas using like some form of like, yeah, quinoa.

Mason: There were avocados on them.

Tommy: Oh, absolutely not.

Josh: So, but then.

Lucille: I mean, that sounds like a terrible Terrible day.

Josh: How about this? So there was, there was a, um, the, the drive-through. What, like, explain that one, Seb's, or drive-in. Sorry, not the drive-through.

Mason: Oh, the drive-in. Yes. Well, so we, we went and, we went and picked up, um, it was pouring, and, and so we went and got pick up Nando's, and then we went to the drive-in cinema and watched Spider-Man.

Lucille: Oh, that's nice.

Josh: Yeah, I think that's cute.

Tommy: That's cute.

Josh: Yeah, that's the temperature in the room. Oh yeah, um, yeah, we can do it. Should we, should we do the, do the rounds? Uh, Sev's, uh, just checking the temp. What do you rock?

Mason: Uh, lemon and herb.

Josh: What about you, TJ?

Tommy: Yeah, I, I, I go extra hot.

Josh: And talking Nando's, if you're just catching up, sort of your basting, if you're Nando's basting of choice. We sort of do this bit where we cheque the temperature in the room If you go to Nando's, what basting are you going?

Mason: Hot.

Lucille: Hot.

Josh: Okay, great. What's your go-to meal at Nando's?

Mason: Fryer.

Lucille: Fryer. The chicken tenders with the coleslaw salad.

Josh: Oh yeah.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: You should try that. Do you like halloumi?

Lucille: Yeah, the halloumi—

Josh: They do the halloumi pita, which is really good. It's got like this honey It's like this honey sort of— I don't even know how to describe it, but basically by the end of it, it's all at the bottom of the pocket and you sort of— We've ended up getting into food. We end up talking about food a lot. So, I'm sorry about that. TJ, did you have a non-food question?

Tommy: I can't think of anything.

Josh: Because I want to do the cuisine. I want to do the cuisine question. Can I do the cuisine question?

Tommy: Oh, yeah, go with that.

Mason: That's a good question.

Josh: Okay, Lucille, if you could have one— If you could only eat one cuisine, for the rest of your life, uh, what would you eat?

Lucille: Italian.

Josh: Okay, it's a classic.

Tommy: And so you've got everything, JJ. You've, you've got a small, like a, yeah, a board. You've got the cured meats. It is very versatile.

Josh: They are.

Mason: That's good.

Tommy: You could go lean, you could blow out. There's lots of different ways, right?

Lucille: Bit of seafood every now and then. Oh yeah, there's a lot There's a lot of diversity in the Italian menu.

Mason: It's actually true. Italian's a very good one.

Tommy: Yeah.

Josh: Yeah.

Tommy: Yeah. I mean, food chat is relatable. Is it okay to open with food chat on Bumble, do you think?

Lucille: Oh, highly recommended. Everyone's got an opinion on it, you know. Food, music, all those kind of things where everyone has a taste, you know.

Josh: Well, actually, Mr. 97, when he started talking to his now girlfriend Grace, uh, I put together a list of questions. Sevs, can you bring up some of those questions? I gave him 60 questions because he's, um, there's, there's two types of people. There's, um, there are the reactors and then there are the generators. And so it's a sort of a radio term. And so the generator is the person who comes up with the idea and all that sort of thing, and then the reactor is someone who can get right into it and have fun with it. Sevs isn't really a generator, and so it just sort of, when it comes to conversation, it's requiring a lot from the other person. And so I generated these questions, and Sevs can go through the list and you can tell us what you think, Lucille.

Mason: Okay, well, so this is from the first— there are 60 of them. I'll just take a few from each lot. The first one was When was your last boyfriend?

Josh: Wait, no, no, no, no, I don't know.

Tommy: This is like what you're doing.

Josh: He's just— this is the cherry-pick bullshit that I don't like. No, it's go through, go through.

Mason: No, no, this is, this is fair. You— these, these are the lists of questions and I'm just pulling out some interesting ones.

Lucille: That should be much further down the list.

Josh: Exactly. And that's the whole thing. That's, that's where he stitched me up, is because that's the 11th question. Can you just do, can you just do the first 15 just real quick? It won't take long.

Tommy: Yeah, that was 11.

Mason: Okay, okay. First one is, if you had to live anywhere outside of Australia, where would you live? The second is, what's your favourite animal and why?

Josh: Can you go a bit closer? It's fast. I'm just expecting you to answer them. Is that what you're wanting?

Mason: That's— yeah, no, no, I mean, we can, but I can just go rapid fire.

Tommy: Rapid fire and pick the best one.

Mason: Okay, great. Bubble Club.

Tommy: No, what's that delay?

Josh: We decided to go through them.

Mason: Oh, sorry, sorry, okay, sorry, sorry, so hard. Uh, do you sleep when travelling on a plane? Where's the furthest you've ever driven? Do you get motion sick? If so, when was it the worst? Hotel or Airbnb? City or country living? If you had to pick a meal for me to eat at your favourite restaurant, what would you pick? When was your last boyfriend? Favorite Australian celebrity? If you could be a pro athlete, which sport would you pick? If you had to pick a different career, which career would you pick? Winter or summer fashion?

Josh: What do you think?

Lucille: I like those questions. I think they're good.

Josh: Thank you.

Lucille: Did they serve you?

Mason: I mean, they did. No, we—

Josh: not saying that that's what it was.

Mason: I know, I genuinely— they did help. I think they were great because it opened a bunch of dialogue and you end up you know, you end up talking for ages as you go through the list. And so I think it was, yeah, they were really helpful.

Josh: And then you sort of go down the sort of track of like, so where the questions go in sort of around the 30 to 40 mark is you start asking things like, are you hot or cold? How much is in your bank? No, no, no. Do you hot or cold at night?

Lucille: Do you have life insurance?

Josh: Yeah, exactly. How much is your life insurance? No, it's things like, it's stuff around like, do you wear pajamas?

Mason: Do you get hot or cold when you sleep? What's your love language?

Josh: Do you wear pyjamas or whatever when you sleep?

Lucille: Yeah, it gets a little—

Josh: it gets a bit sexy, you know, anything could happen.

Tommy: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I love it. And, um, Lucy, feel free to use that. We can send you those.

Mason: Oh yeah, oh yeah, right, for the, um, little pre-sending them in the app.

Lucille: Yeah, I'll have a chat today, the product team, you know. Oh great, yeah, it'd be Definitely something we can incorporate.

Josh: Yeah, I think it would be a great collab. I mean, we've got the grunts. Yeah, I mean, Casey was saying that she's just, um, setting up her bio right now. She's filling it all out. She's just in the YouTube comments. That's great. Um, yeah, perfect. I mean, what's, um, is this a bit of a different Friday night? What have you been doing the last few Friday nights?

Lucille: Uh, well, I haven't been on a, on a live stream like this before, but Friday nights have been looking pretty boring lately. A lot of watching movies. Sometimes me and my flatmates will walk to the end of the street, look at the pub, walk home. Um, so yeah, everything's been a bit quieter than usual. So, um, but this has been very exciting.

Josh: Oh, great.

Tommy: Well, we thank you for coming on. It's, um, 12 hours through for us, and we've, uh, managed not not to be too offensive, I think.

Lucille: No, no, but, um, you've got a long way to go. What was that? What possessed you to—

Tommy: Yeah, all right, cut her off, cut her off.

Josh: This is good. No, I like a bit of pushback. This is great. I mean, that's the other thing, Sev's, um, I mean, yeah, what do you think about pushback and banter? And, um, obviously the, the game, uh, isn't necessarily great, things like negging and, and that type, but what do you think about sort of the fun banter, do you have any sort of rules or your own sort of personal opinion on how to have good banter without just being a complete asshole?

Mason: A dick, yeah.

Lucille: I think it's about timing, you know, about, you know, maybe not going in too heavy too soon with that kind of humour and just like slowly testing that person's boundaries and whether you think you share the same sense of humour because You know, people's sense of humour and people's tolerance level for, you know, banter is very different. So, I think just, you know, start small and see how it's received and go from there.

Josh: I think that's spot on. All right. Well, enjoy your— What are you going to watch? Have you got something that's in your queue on Netflix? What's it going to be?

Mason: No.

Lucille: Do you guys have any recommendations?

Tommy: I mean, it's going to be—

Josh: Seb's just watched Afterlife with his girlfriend.

Mason: Afterlife is great.

Lucille: Yeah. Good. Okay, maybe I'll watch that.

Tommy: I mean, it's a little— Hang on, hang on. The Big Sick. I mean, it sounds—

Mason: The Big Sick, it's amazing.

Josh: It's so good. Is that on Netflix, TJ?

Tommy: Yeah, I watched that on Netflix.

Mason: I'm pretty sure.

Josh: Oh great. Yeah, The Big Sick is really good. You should definitely get around it. But, um, thank you. All right, we're going to— I'll go see you in the green room, and, uh, the boys can—

Tommy: So much coming on.

Lucille: Thanks.

Mason: Thank you.

Josh: Yeah, see you in 2 seconds. I'm just walking over now.