KC singles look offline and onstage for love
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First round of contestants and possible matches. GIF: Abbey Higginbotham/Axios
Comedian Sarah O'Sullivan is flipping Kansas City's rough dating scene into a live monthly show where strangers volunteer for public honesty, awkwardness and flirtation.
Why it matters: KC has long been labeled a difficult city to date, ranked worst in the country in 2022 by BestPlaces.
State of play: That's where "That KC Dating Show" steps in. The show launched in the spring and now returns every six weeks, often selling out before contestants are picked.
- It borrows the structure of the 1970s show "The Dating Game" and runs on O'Sullivan's comic timing, which keeps the energy high and the awkward pauses short.
- "I posted one TikTok and suddenly 80 people applied immediately. After that, I knew KC would get onstage," she tells Axios.
How it works: She builds each show around four rounds, each with its own main contestant and three potential matches.
- She selects contestants from online submissions, looking for forms that show humor or personality. She says, "I cast outgoing people. You have to be comfortable facing 250-plus people."
- She asks the main contestants for their type and casts three matches who represent different versions of what they're looking for.
- The show includes rounds for straight and LGBTQ+ contestants.
Zoom in: At RecordBar last Friday, the holiday edition of the show, titled "A Naughty Xmas," unfolded like a chaotic social experiment.
- The main contestants hid behind a partition while the matches answered questions.
- The crowd participated by shouting advice, cringing at awkward answers, and cheering when someone took a chance.
- Even Santa made an appearance to give contestants his feedback.
What they're saying: O'Sullivan says the show works because singles are not hopeless — they are just stuck.
- "People crave connection. They need it. They just don't know where to start, and we're all a little emotionally stunted," she says.
- Success rates vary from show to show. She says unexpected connections happen "every single show," sometimes between contestants and sometimes among the audience.
The bottom line: The show is not focused on fixing the city's dating scene, but it is giving singles something they rarely get from apps: a chance to be seen, to be surprised, and to meet someone without hiding behind their phone.
What's next: A Valentine's Day edition will be on Feb. 13.