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So, I was part of a recent Grab x Tinder activation, which you most probably would know about if you are a Grab user.

How the campaign works:

For one day only between 11am to 4pm on Friday (19 May), you could log into the Grab app and click on the Grab x Tinder tab to get a chance to share a ride with me (or six other personalities). After hanging out with the different matches (aka passengers), I would then choose one person to come back on Sunday (21 May) for an outing with me!

BUT because the ride was free, there were people just clicking on the Grab x Tinder tab to get a free ride. (Sigh.) I was hoping to meet genuine people who wanted to get to know us, but who was I kidding, Singaporeans like free stuff right?

So how did my rides go? In case you are curious to find out…

Match #1: Pankaj 

I was actually feeling excited about this whole activation because I genuinely wanted to meet new people. I always meet people from within the sports and fitness industry, within the triathlon community, so it was nice to get a chance to meet people outside of my circle. We set off at 10.30am and we accepted the first job, which was around Meyer Road. We had to call the passenger first, to check that they are alright with potentially being filmed, before we picked them up.

Pankaj sounded a little confused, but said ok, so we proceeded to pick him up. When he got to the car however, he sat in the front seat so it was kinda AWKWARD. Does he know what this campaign is about? He was honest about it and said no, he only saw it was a free ride so he chose it. -_-”

I introduced myself anyway and explained what the campaign was about, and he said, “Ah, maybe I should go to Woodlands then.” 😉 At the next red stoplight, I got Pankaj to quickly get into the backseat with me so I could chat properly with him. It was a lot easier then!

Pankaj was on the way to work at 11am in the morning because he worked till 230am the night before (Wah…). He runs his own financial services consultancy (at ONE Raffles Place), so he had the flexibility of going into work later. Born in Bombay, he started this with a partner three years ago and they have plans to expand to Dubai.

The trip was a short one, so we mostly chatted about his work, about India and a little about fitness. I did tell him my outing on Sunday, if he gets called back, is CrossFit and he seemed keen to try it. Let’s see.. First match completed!

Match 2: Charity

LEGIT, her name is Charity. I’m not kidding. Her parents gave her this name! Probably because she’s a girl, so it was really easy to chat with her. She knew what the campaign was about (not here for the free ride!), so we didn’t have to explain much to her over the pre-ride call. She also had a lot of questions for me already, about Rock The Naked Truth and my Ironman 70.3 triathlon stuff, so we were going on and on.

Charity was on the way to meet her friends as she wasn’t working (she’s currently unemployed she says) and she doesn’t really exercise. She calls herself a potato (as in couch potato!), so I invited her to join ROCKrunners, my weekly running club, every Saturday at 7.45am and she said she will consider! She’s also very young – she’s 25 omg. That’s like my sister’s age man. I felt a bit sad when she had to alight, because we were talking so much. :(((

Match 3: Ben

When we get a job, only the pickup and dropoff points are displayed. We won’t know the passenger’s name or see their photo, and we will only know their names after we accept the job. So it’s really all about fate and luck!

My next match was Ben, whom we picked up from CBD area. He seemed a bit surprised to see me in the car and I like how honest he was when I asked why he clicked on the Grab x Tinder tab. His reply: “I saw it was $0.00 so I press lor.”

There was a cameraman in this car so I told him what this whole activation was about anyway and he was a little hesitant initially, but as we chatted more, he slowly eased up. Ben was on reservist and it was the last day. He booked out earlier but had to come to CBD to settle some work stuff (he’s a courier services manager) and was heading to Somerset to get something to eat before he meets his friends.

What’s there to eat at Somerset? He just wanted to eat anything, because after a week in camp, all you want is some non-camp outside food. HAHA! That’s how we started talking about food! His favourite is this 辣纸鸡 (literally translated as chilli paper chicken) – this deep fried chicken dipped in chilli oil with lots of chilli – at Chinatown. It sounds really sinful and yummy, but I can’t take spicy so I think I might burn my throat and lose my voice forever on that.

I brought up fitness of course, since it’s my interest, and his response was funny – “You see my size? Don’t look like I exercise…” LOL! I really like this guy’s candid responses. It’s quite refreshing to chat with non-fitness people, because I’m always surrounded by active people. I cannot imagine not working out at all tbh. I don’t think I told him about my CrossFit outing this Sunday, but I don’t think he would be interested la.

Match 4: Lester

From Somerset, we somehow ended up in Paya Lebar because we were accepting jobs and heading towards them, before getting cancelled on or getting passengers telling us that they are not comfortable with getting filmed. WHY YOU REJECT ME!

We actually went to Paya Lebar Square to pick this student up (I assume so as his destination was School of Economics in Orchard), but he didn’t answer our calls, so only after he got into the car then I could explain that footage from the ride will be used online. He quickly buckled out of the car. Oops.

I was getting a bit tired of all these failed matches, so I told Uncle to stop by the roadside and waiting until the passenger agrees to the ride before we pick them up. And then this job came up with a pickup from Paya Lebar Square! YAY! That’s exactly where we were.

This time it’s a guy called Lester and he already knew what the activation was about, so of course he said yes. When he came into the car, I could sense his apparent disappointment though. He said he took part in this activation because he was hoping to meet Victoria Cheng. Oops, I’m sorry, no Victoria, only Cheryl Tay! I could feel his disappointment so I tried to comfort him by telling him that at least he got me and not one of the guys?

Lester is a freelance new media producer he told me, and he used to work for a YouTube channel (shit I can’t remember which one). He was going to Great World City for cell group and thought he would give this Grab x Tinder thing a shot to see if he could meet Victoria. “Victoria is single right?” he asked me at one point. Eh, I don’t know her personally and I don’t know her status.

He did however, ask me for my Instagram handle and followed me!

Match 5: Wilson

It was already 5pm by then and I could call it a day, but since the Grab x Tinder tab was ‘live’ till 7pm, I decided to ‘work overtime’ and continue picking passengers up. I didn’t have an outright decision on who I wanted to call back with me on Sunday, so hopefully I can meet someone interesting in the last two hours.

Once again, Uncle and I stopped by the roadside and waited to see what routes were incoming. I was hoping to get a destination closer to the East so it would be easier for me to get home after. We accepted a few jobs, but all of them said they weren’t comfortable with getting filmed, so we had to keep trying. At that point we were at Mohd Sultan and then this job came from that area, with CBD as the destination. Ok on!

When I called Wilson to explain what this was about, I was crossing my fingers. Nobody likes being rejected so many times. AND HE SAID YES OMG. We picked him up immediately and he confessed that he didn’t really know what this Grab x Tinder activation was about, but clicked on it out of curiosity.

Wilson works in a bank and he was on leave that day, that’s why he was dressed down. He had a drink and was going for another drink, so haps! It was very fun to talk to Wilson and I was like, ok I think I found my match for Sunday (I checked that he wasn’t married or attached first). He’s not a fitness freak like me, but he seemed game enough to try new things. The ride was brief, so I didn’t get to chat much with him. I did find out that he’s 32 though.

After he got out, I was like, ok I made up my mind – I shall ask Wilson back this Sunday. So, I told Uncle we could just head back to the East and drop me home if he didn’t mind?

Match 6: Andee

Then suddenly Uncle exclaimed! “Eh, 这个是 East side 的!” (Eh, this one is East side!) The job was from CBD area, which was where we were, to the East. I was all ready to ‘pang gang’ and go home, but ok sure, since it was so convenient, let’s take it! That is, if Andee agrees to being filmed. He said yes too! ALRIGHT, let’s roll baby.

Andee had a certain reservedness to him, but he was willing to chat even though he was tired from a whole week of work. He does client management in a trading firm and is mostly on night shift, but that day he was on normal hours and was rushing home to get his stuff before going out again.

Why did he click on Grab x Tinder? Frankly, he didn’t even realise he clicked on it. (Like that also can.) He was in a hurry so he just opened the Grab app and absent-mindedly clicked whatever. Nice. So, Andee is not a big fan of cardio but he does cycle at ECP sometimes. He does mostly HIIT stuff at home too.

I also asked if he was married or attached – just in case I ask him back on Sunday and he needed to get “permission”. Nope, he’s single too – all clear! But when I told him my outing on Sunday was CrossFit, he said he hopes he won’t get called back. LOL! He tried CrossFit once, two years ago, and isn’t that big a fan on it. Hmmm.

After he got out, I was like, ok I don’t mind seeing this guy again. So I had two options to choose from for Sunday! #dilemma

But to sum up the day, I enjoyed all the conversations I had in the car and I thought this Grab x Tinder activation was very unique. I don’t meet much people outside of the fitness circle, so this has been really awesome.

THE CHOSEN ONE

Now, who did I choose to call back on Sunday? If you had seen my Instastories, then you would already know it was Andee who came out with me! HOW IRONIC right. He said he hopes he won’t get called back for CrossFit, but when Grab contacted him, HE AGREED. Whee! The initial plan for my outing was cycling at ECP (which Andee said he much preferred), but I wanted something more dynamic so I changed it to CrossFit (too bad). How did he fare? Did I kill him with the WOD I planned? Find out when the video is out!

Thank you Grab x Tinder for this opportunity – I really had a lot of fun and I laughed so much. LOLOLOLOL!! AND – I thought it was damn cool to have my photo on the car; OMG can!)