Champaign
Green Street Has Enough Bars. It Needs a Dating Show.
UIUC has one of the largest Indian and South Asian student bodies in the country, concentrated in the engineering and CS programs
We're Coming to Champaign!Champaign is on the tour list. Sign up below and help us get there! Everyone on the list gets tickets first when we announce.
UIUC has one of the largest Indian and South Asian student bodies in the country. Walk through the engineering quad on any given Tuesday and you'll hear more Hindi and Telugu than you will in most American cities. The desi community here is enormous. The dating options? Not so much.
The show format from New York works perfectly in college towns: real contestants go on live dates on stage while a packed room watches and reacts. Afterward, the whole crowd mingles. It's chaotic, it's fun, and it works better than whatever you're currently doing on Hinge at the same three bars on Green Street.
Champaign is a college town, which means the dating pool refreshes every year but also means everyone ends up in the same three bars on Green Street. This is different. A full room of people who showed up specifically because they want to meet someone. No ambiguity about why anyone is there.
We're gauging interest for a Champaign show. Get on the waitlist and you'll hear about it before anyone else. If you want to be a contestant and go on a live date in front of your classmates, apply below. We dare you.
UIUC is a desi mega-campus with no dating layer
Illinois runs one of the largest Indian and South Asian student populations in the country, dense enough that entire apartment blocks and course sections run desi by default. The social infrastructure is all study groups, student orgs and Green Street late nights, none of which are designed for actually meeting someone romantically. The apps are a closed loop of the same campus faces, and Chicago is a two and a half hour bus ride that nobody takes twice for a first date.
A campus-scale live show turns that density into an asset. One room, one night, every discipline and year mixed on purpose.
What a Garam Masala night in Chambana looks like
A CS PhD and a Gies MBA who have never met, on stage, going on a first date while half of Grainger loses its mind in the audience. Comedian hosts, live votes and a mixer where the walk home down Green Street becomes the second date by default.
to bring the show to the cornfields, or apply to be a contestant and become the engineering quad's favorite case study.
No Champaign dates are live yet. The show tours nationally and sells out every stop. Watch full episodes while we make our way to you!
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Questions About Champaign Shows
When is Garam Masala Dating coming to Champaign?
No date confirmed yet. We are gauging interest through the waitlist. UIUC's massive desi community makes Champaign a strong candidate.
Is this for students or working professionals?
Both. UIUC draws grad students, undergrads, and the professionals who stayed in Champaign after graduating. The show is built for anyone in their 20s and 30s who is single and tired of the same three bars on Green Street.
Can I apply to be a contestant?
Yes. Apply now. Applications stay active for 12 months. Champaign applicants will be prioritized when we confirm a date.
Is there Indian speed dating in Champaign-Urbana?
ISA and grad org mixers exist, dating events do not. On a campus with one of the largest Indian student bodies in America, a live dating show sells itself. Literally, we barely have to advertise in college towns.
Where do UIUC desi students actually meet?
Grainger library floors, Green Street food runs and department clusters that never cross. The engineering quad alone holds more single desis than most cities, all waiting for an occasion.
Will the show survive semester turnover?
College town shows are built for turnover: the audience refreshes every year, which keeps the format permanently new. Alumni within driving distance count double, Chambana.
From the Journal
Also coming to: Chicago , Indianapolis , Bloomington , St. Louis , Columbus