Ted Lasso dating app heading to Bumble

Chris Tilly
ted-lasso-bantr

A fictional dating up used by the characters in Ted Lasso is crossing over into the real world as part of a “live experience” on Bumble.

Apple sitcom Ted Lasso – about an American football manager moving to England to coach AFC Richmond – has been a huge critical and commercial hit for the streamer.

The show has won a whopping 11 Emmys, and is now in the business of promotional tie-ins, with the club now a playable team in EA Sports’ FIFA 23.

The show is also entering the world of dating this week, with fictional app Bantr becoming part of actual app Bumble.

What is the Ted Lasso dating app?

In Season 2 of Ted Lasso, a dating app called Bantr was introduced, that allows users to chat before seeing photos of each other.

Richmond owner Rebecca Welton (Hannah Waddingham) make a connection through the app, only to discover that the object of her affections is player/employee Sam Obisanya (Toheeb Jimoh).

Which isn’t maybe the best advert for Bantr, but that hasn’t stopped Bumble from partnering with Apple TV+ on the app.

How will Bantr work on Bumble?

According to Variety, “the Bantr Live experience will let two users, randomly paired together, DM for three minutes. At that point, each person will be asked if they would like to continue the conversation.

Bantr and Bumble's Ted Lasso partnership

“If both Bumblers choose to match, their chat will live in their Date Mode queue and their profiles will then be available to view.”

Speaking about the promotion, Bumble’s Global VP or Partnerships Olivia Yu said: “As huge fans of Ted Lasso we were so excited to bring the Bantr Live experience to our community.

“Bantr Live enables our community to connect with someone unexpected and learn more about a person before seeing them. We look forward to people on Bumble having fun with Bantr Live and connecting and dating in a new and exciting way.”

Bantr Live launches on Bumble in the US, UK, Canada and Australia this Thursday (October 13), and continues until the end of the year. While everything we know about Season 3 of Ted Lasso can be found here.