The dating app experiment is over, and the results are in: it didn’t work. Singles spent years swiping, matching, and messaging, only to end up right back where they started: frustrated, burned out, and single.

The problem was never you. Dating apps are designed to keep you on the app, not to get you into a relationship. Their business model depends on your failure. Every successful relationship is a lost customer. Match Group, the parent company of Tinder, Hinge, and Match.com, openly states in their SEC filings that their revenue depends on user engagement, not user success.

Guys all around are cracking beers in excitement over joining Bethenny Frankel’s service. Finally, someone gets it. Finally, someone with real credentials is stepping in to fix this broken, miserable dating landscape.

Her stance against matchmakers is brave. A woman like her having disdain for a female-dominated industry such as matchmaking is courageous and heroic, which is what America is all about. Her credibility is unmatched. We’re talking about a woman who built her empire on Real Housewives of New York and the Skinnygirl brand.

In my matchmaking practice, I’ve begun incorporating 67 principles into how I evaluate potential matches. It’s not about whether someone posts 67 on social media, it’s about whether they demonstrate the underlying dynamics.

Justin McLeod, the founder and former CEO of Hinge, just announced he’s stepping down to launch Overtone, a new AI matchmaking app that promises to be “like working with an all-star personal matchmaker.” As someone who has worked as a professional matchmaker for over five years, I need to call out what’s really happening here: another tech CEO who has never done the actual work of matchmaking thinks he can automate away the humans who do it.

And here’s the uncomfortable truth: he’s going to fail. Not because AI doesn’t have its place in dating, but because he fundamentally misunderstands what matchmaking actually is.

The matchmaking industry is growing rapidly while dating apps plateau. More people are willing to pay for alternatives. The cultural moment is shifting toward human-curated connections over algorithmic matching.

If you’re someone who already connects people, who cares about your friends’ romantic lives, who throws events or builds communities; you’re sitting on a business opportunity that most people don’t see yet.

The sooner you recognize that facilitating romantic connections for the people in your life is valuable work that can be monetized, the sooner you can build something sustainable around it.

We’re facing the worst job market for college graduates in five years. Student loan debt has reached $1.77 trillion. Young people with degrees are competing with high school graduates for the same jobs and losing. The American Dream isn’t just dying, it’s being actively killed by the very institutions that promised to deliver it.

This isn’t about the economy. This isn’t about AI or globalization or any other convenient scapegoat. This is about a system that takes billions from families who can’t afford it, delivers a product that doesn’t work, hides the evidence, and then asks for donations.

Universities are running the biggest con in American history. And it’s time someone said it.

Washington, DC should be one of the easiest cities to date in. Young, educated, ambitious professionals everywhere. People who know what they want and aren’t afraid to go after it. A population that values intelligence and achievement.

Instead, it’s become one of the most frustrating dating markets in the country.

The problem isn’t the people. It’s the system we’ve all bought into.

Dating apps promised us efficiency. Endless options. The ability to “optimize” our love lives the same way we optimize our careers. For a city full of people who are used to working hard and seeing results, this pitch was irresistible.

When NYC Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani sat down with President Trump in the Oval Office this week, the conversation centered on what matters most to New Yorkers: affordability. Lower food costs. Lower housing costs. A safer city.

It’s exactly what politicians should be talking about. New York City has become prohibitively expensive for the people who actually live here, and any meaningful conversation about making the city livable again deserves attention.

But there’s one massive demographic that continues to get ignored in these affordability discussions: singles.

Winter first dates in NYC offer unique advantages over other seasons. The cold weather creates natural closeness, holiday decorations add magic, and cozy indoor venues encourage extended conversation. From iconic ice skating at Rockefeller Center to intimate cocktails at hidden speakeasies, NYC’s winter dating scene thrives on variety and romance.

The best winter first dates combine outdoor adventure (ice skating, holiday markets, winter walks) with indoor warmth (cozy restaurants, cocktail lounges, museums). This contrast creates shared experiences ; braving cold together, then warming up over drinks while discussing the adventure.

Forget ghosting. Move over, breadcrumbing. Gaslighting is so last season. According to matchmaker Nick Rosen, who has interviewed thousands of singles nationwide and internationally, there’s a new red flag that’s creating unprecedented consensus in the dating world: being mentioned in the Epstein files.

“I’ve been in this business for years, and I’ve never seen such unanimous agreement on a deal-breaker,” says Rosen, founder of Met By Nick and co-founder of QUALITY matchmaking. “This is joining the ranks of traditional red flags, but honestly, it might be surpassing them.”

I’m writing to express my deep gratitude to Tucker Carlson for having me on his show to discuss matchmaking and the current state of dating in America. Though I must clarify for the major news outlets who seem to have their spell-check on the fritz: my name is Nick Rosen — R-O-S-E-N — not Fuentes. I’m the matchmaker who says kind things about people, not that other, younger internet personality known for, shall we say, a different approach to discourse.

Nikola Jokić is appointment television. He’s worth staying up past 1 a.m. for. He’s worth waking up at 3 a.m. for. Because what we’re witnessing right now; this sustained excellence, this artistic expression disguised as a game, is historic.

Thank you, Nikola Jokić, for being normal. For being down to earth. For proving that greatness doesn’t require a brand, a persona, or a social media following. Just talent, work ethic, and an almost supernatural understanding of the game.

The level of ignorance and lack of self-awareness in modern dating is absolutely mind-boggling. And nowhere is this more apparent than in the pathetic, irritating chorus of single people complaining about the opposite sex.

You know what’s exhausting? Listening to grown adults rant about how terrible women are. You know what’s equally annoying? Hearing women trash all men as if half the population is fundamentally broken.

It’s pathetic. It’s embarrassing. And it’s a massive advertisement for exactly why these people are still single.

My twin sister Natalie just brought the most handsome little guy into this world in San Francisco, and I couldn't be more proud of her. Watching her hold her son for the first time filled me with so much joy; emotions I knew I had, but experiencing them in that moment was something else entirely.

When you work as a professional matchmaker, you don’t get the luxury of viewing modern dating through rose-colored glasses. You’re in the trenches, hearing the raw truth about what people are experiencing out there. And honestly? It can be soul-crushing.

I hear it all. The frustration that bleeds through every conversation. The loneliness that people carry like a weight they’ve forgotten how to put down. The isolation of swiping through hundreds of faces and still feeling invisible. The exhaustion of not being heard, of shouting into the void of dating apps and getting only sile

We’re supposed to be living in the age of sex positivity. An era where exploration is celebrated, where vanilla is passé, where dating apps have democratized access to potential partners. Yet intimacy rates are plummeting. Sex is dwindling. And a third of Americans now report having romantic relationships with AI instead of other humans.

Let me say that again: one in three Americans have had a romantic relationship with artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, dating app profiles increasingly read like corporate job listings; exhaustive checklists of requirements, disclaimers, and dealbreakers that would make any HR department proud. We have hyper-labeled every aspect of human sexual connection to the point where it creates more barriers than bridges. We’re more sexually frustrated and repressed than generations who lived under far more conservative social values.

What young men need now isn’t another prescription, whether it’s “be this kind of man” or “maybe you’re not a man.” They need permission to figure out who they are without a political movement breathing down their necks. They need to see models of masculinity that include emotional intelligence, vulnerability, integrity, and care for others.

They need the same thing young women need, the same thing all young people need: to be taught respect for themselves and others, curiosity about the world and different perspectives, and kindness as a baseline for how we treat each other.

In the fast-moving world of modern romance, we’re witnessing something remarkable: a cultural revolution that’s slowly but surely changing how people approach finding love. As matchmakers across the industry work tirelessly to shift perceptions, a critical question emerges: How long does it actually take for society to embrace a fundamentally different approach to dating?

If you’re a successful, intelligent man who’s struggling with modern dating, you’re part of a much larger trend and more importantly, there are proven solutions. While 63% of young men under 30 are currently single compared to just 34% of women, this disparity represents both a challenge and an opportunity for men who are ready to approach dating strategically.

As a male matchmaker who has navigated these waters firsthand, I’ve helped hundreds of quality men, both straight and gay, break through the barriers that keep them single. This isn’t about what’s wrong with you; it’s about understanding the systems that aren’t serving men well and implementing strategies that actually work.