Sophomores from across the 5Cs found love — or tried to — in front of an audience of over 250 people in the class of 2026’s Dating Game on Friday, March 1. Pioneered by the Associated Students of Claremont McKenna College (ASCMC) Sophomore Class Cabinet last semester, this semester’s game was hosted in collaboration with all of the 5C sophomore cabinets.
At 8:15 p.m., after hundreds of students found their seats in a crowded Pickford Auditorium at CMC, ASCMC Vice President Chloe Ray CM ’26 welcomed everyone to the event and explained the game’s rules.
Prior to Friday’s event, students were able to sign up as either question-askers or contestants in the game. During the game, the question-asker, a student searching for love, would be called up and blindfolded when it was their turn.
They would then sit on one side of a whiteboard and ask several questions of their own design to four or five students sitting on the other side, attempting to determine which they were most compatible with without physically seeing them. Each student held a sign declaring the name of their college.
Deniz Bajin PO ’26, a contestant in one of the five rounds of the game, said she was initially nervous about the prospect of a blind matching game.
“When it comes to dating, I trust my looks more than my personality,” Bajin said. “I wasn’t sure if I could get someone’s attention without them seeing me. I had never participated in a game onstage, [so] seeing people rooting for me was the best feeling ever.”
At the end of the round, the question-asker would declare their chosen contestant and the matched couple would finally meet face-to-face.
Ray emphasized that one of the key ground rules for the audience was to maintain contestants’ anonymity.
“Don’t yell your friend’s name because that ruins it,” Ray said. “[The question-asker is] not supposed to know who it is, so don’t cheer for your friends’ names ahead of time.”
After the announcement, the game’s host Hannah Conte CM ’26 was welcomed on stage to wild cheering.
“I was really excited about seeing all the different people from all the different schools,” Conte said. “I thought our class cabinet did a really good job organizing. And I was really excited about the turnout, I thought it was great.”
Conte also hosted last semester’s Dating Game, in which only CMC sophomores were allowed to participate. This semester, however, ASCMC wanted to include more students. According to CMC’s Sophomore Class President Ryu Nakase CM ’26, this semester’s game also sought to include a wider variety of relationships.
“We want to be inclusive,” Nakase said. “So it’s not just heterosexual relationships and people that are interested in that kind of relationship [in the game]. We’re also trying to be a lot more inclusive and diverse.”
The sign-up form asked participants for their name, school, gender and sexual preferences — if they were comfortable providing that information — to build the different rotations of question-askers and contestants. CMC took the lead in creating the form and setting up the event while asking the other 5C class presidents to encourage their sophomores to sign up.
“We did a lot of the logistics, whether it was creating the posters, the sign-up sheets and making sure the match-ups flowed very well,” Nakase said. “CMC specifically took on a heavier role in organizing this 5C event.”
Questions ranged from inquiries about favorite fictional characters to queries about preferences in the bedroom. Contestants had equally creative answers: One sophomore did the splits on stage while another sported a fake Russian accent for the entirety of their round.
“The game wasn’t real, people were performing,” Bajin said. “That made it more fun.”
While the game brought a pair together at the end of each round, contestants too, had an opportunity to bond with each other while on stage, getting to know other sophomores from across the 5Cs.
“My good friend contestant number three, Owen Keiser, was not only beautiful and sexy and funny, but he was also very charming,” Rohit Iyer CM ’26 said, reflecting on his and Keiser’s time together as contestants.
According to Ray, this opportunity for sophomores to make connections across the 5Cs, while also making the game itself less predictable, is a major reason why ASCMC decided to host the dating game again.
“The biggest issue [last semester was] people being able to identify each other super easily,” Ray said. “We were like, we should just make this 5C, mix it up a bit.”
The audience also participated heavily, shouting advice to question-askers about which contestant to pick, giving example questions and contributing to a vibrant, sober atmosphere.
“Having this perfect medium [where] people can watch and be entertained, yet there’s no alcohol involved, that aspect is something that we really really liked,” Nakasse said. “That’s why we [continued] this event on a bigger scale.”
At 9:50 p.m., five new couples had been formed — including one pair matched in a surprise round with the question-asker and contestants being volunteers from the audience. Whether or not the hundreds of 5C students who left Pickford Auditorium that night found love, each left with their hearts full.
“At the end of the day, I love God. God bless God,” Iyer said. “I think that at the end of all this, we should all look up and thank the Lord above for a fantastic event.”