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I made a dating profile on Hinge as a Pigeon because I was bored of dating at UCL

Yep, you read that right

@datingapps @datinginlondon @hinge

WARNING: This article contains several images of pigeons so if you find them scary (which I’ve recently discovered a surprising number of people do), this isn’t the article for you.

First off, let's start this article by explaining a bit about my history with dating apps. Did you know that around 1 in 5 relationships in the UK now start online? Despite this optimistic statistic, I have experienced little to no long-term success – and it’s definitely not from lack of trying.

For the past year, I’ve been on and off of Tinder and Bumble, because only self-respecting pigeon girls have multiple dating apps am I right? But I've been constantly disappointed by the lack of good chat or banter (a constant back and forth of “hey, how’s it going” and “I’m good, hbu?” is not flirting, guys) or being ghosted for no good reason.

This made me develop an unhealthy sort of Ross and Rachel, will-they-won’t-they relationship with dating apps – I was constantly deleting and reinstalling them (sometimes multiple times in a day) until finally, I deleted them for good. Or so I thought.

Sports night, where it all began

It all started on one fateful, "Noah’s Ark" themed Sports Night. As we were all encouraged to dress up as animals, I took this opportunity to whip out my pigeon mask (which, yes, I already had lying around) and paired it with a brand new dress. Long story short, the entire night was one big photoshoot from Phineas to Loop. By the end of it, I had enough photos to make an entire dating profile of me as a Pigeon.

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From getting featured on a stranger's insta post…

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To wilding with my homies – it was some nest level stuff

Unfortunately, my hangover got the better of me, and it seemed that Hinge was to remain Pigeonless – until…

Creation of the ‘Pigeon’ profile

Last Saturday, I went to the infamous RUMS “Take Me Out” dating event to support my friend who was appearing as one of the bachelors. During the show he sneaked round the back to watch the show and chat with us. Casually, he mentioned how the other day he and one of our friends matched on Hinge. Inspired by this, I recalled my brilliant idea from that fateful Sports Night and downloaded Hinge on the spot. To set up my profile, I compiled the best pictures from that night with witty captions and bam – this Pigeon was ready to mingle.

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The response

I thought to myself – who would match with someone whose face they cannot see? The answer: a lot of people. I managed to get 11 likes within five minutes of making my profile. It shocked me because I DID NOT HAVE A SINGLE PICTURE OF MY (ACTUAL) FACE on the profile.

Here are some examples of the responses I received:

(To protect the identities of my potential suitors, I have replaced their pictures with images of pigeons)

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Quite a few appeared to have a "thing" for Pigeons

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Some were outright weird (and that's coming from me)

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Some were actually quite inspiring

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A few appreciated my efforts

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But of course there were more…vulgar comments

Thoughts on the overall experience

Overall my experience has been positive. More people than I expected were willing to strike up a conversation and be willing to get to know a girl wearing a pigeon mask (a couple of my matches have even suggested to get drinks).

It is a bit worrying, however, that dating apps like Hinge are letting people (like me) go on and match with people without proper verification. Maybe we should take advantage of this and adopt a more playful approach to using these apps.

I’ve also learned that people maybe aren’t as shallow as they appear to be. The fact that so many people were willing to chat up a stranger, whose face they couldn’t see, just proves that maybe personality IS enough. Or maybe more people than we realise just have a thing for a pigeon with “nice tits”. We’ll leave that for you decide.

And to answer the question you're all thinking: Would I go on a date in the pigeon head? Readers, wait and see.