- You might think the only person
who could be trusted with your love life is you, right?
Wrong.
Enter the Board of Dating, a group of friends, family,
and even coworkers you enlist to do the choosing for you.
Guided by a relationship expert, that's me, Spicy Mari,
they're not leaving until they make a match
because when it comes to dating,
we could all use a little help.
This is Board of Dating.
So, today I get to meet Meghan.
- My name is Meghan.
I am 35 years old.
I am currently a director of strategic partnerships
for an international arts organization.
- Unfortunately, she's just had a bad streak with dating.
So, I really wanna know why.
- I feel like I'm at the point where I need some help.
- I wanna know if it's the kind of guys she's choosing
or if it's something that Meghan's actually doing
to turn men off.
Well, I wanna get to the root of it.
- Hello. - The dog is...
- I know, it's a welcome wagon.
Hi. - What's up?
A welcome party.
- Yes, come on, here we go. - So excited to talk with you.
The dogs are excited about me too.
- [Meghan] Yes, definitely.
They're always excited.
- [Mari] So, how are you feeling?
- I'm feeling good about life right now,
but going out on a lot of first dates
that don't pan into even a second date.
- Okay, so what do you think it is?
Why aren't you making it to the second date?
- The guys are nice enough, but either they say,
oh, yeah, let's go on a second date
and they never follow up, or yeah,
it's just not a right fit.
- Tell me what you're attracting
and then tell me what you want to attract.
- I tend to be geared towards those
that are kind of in that Peter Pan Syndrome
that have all of these things going on,
but then don't have time to invest in another person.
What I'd like is not necessarily
somebody to complete me per se,
but kind of a life partner .
- So, who did you choose to help you
so that we can hand select this guy?
- So, we have Andi.
- I'm Andi, and I've known Meghan for about two years.
- She's a lawyer, so she has that train of thinking.
There's Dayna.
- I'm Dayna,
and I've known Meghan for about four and a half years.
- She's just somebody who I can get silly with.
And then there's Sarah.
- I'm Sarah,
and I've known Meghan for about three and a half years.
- [Meghan] The sweetest person, too.
- I'm gonna ask them what they think Meghan
is doing wrong when it comes to dating.
What do you think that they're gonna say?
- Man .
I'm curious, number one, what they're gonna say.
Maybe to broaden my horizons.
I tend to go for the same physical type of guy.
- A tall, semi-muscular Asian dude.
- So, that is very specific.
- The opposite of what Meghan needs
is somebody who's a little too into themselves.
- Or too clingy.
- [All] Yeah.
- Too needy.
- A stage five clinger.
- Yeah, someone who wants to be with her 24/7.
- When it comes to your dating habits,
what are you doing when you see somebody
who you are attracted to?
- She's really straightforward and blunt.
- Which isn't a bad thing, but I think,
depending on the guy that she might be going after
might not be able to handle it.
- I'm tired of being the chaser.
I'm usually the proactive one.
- She's substantially more awesome
than most of the guys here.
- I think that makes it a little harder too
because you have to kinda keep looking,
and there's not much to look at.
- I kinda wanna dive into past experiences
when it came to relationships.
- I was married at the young age of 21.
- Oh, yeah. - Young babe.
- Meghan and her ex were together for seven years.
- We didn't work out
because he was kind of emotionally stunted.
He wasn't available for me.
- He was working all the time and she was alone.
- I've mentioned this Peter Pan Syndrome,
and now I'm thinking hmm, making the connection there.
You know, that he kinda just didn't wanna grow up.
- But I will say that them getting divorced
was probably the best thing ever
'cause that led her to coming out here and being with us.
- Okay, so we're trying to avoid Peter Pans,
and it would help to know we're not attaching ourselves
to the wrong person or flirting with somebody undeservingly.
So, let's start coming up with some spice breakers.
These are questions that you gotta ask,
things that you really wanna learn about them
to find out if they have Peter Pan Syndrome
before you start rubbin' on his neck.
- I might ask what they do.
It's tended to be like, oh,
I have four jobs that I'm in or something like that.
- Yes, but a softer way to approach a man about that
is asking what are you passionate about.
Let him tell you his passions, his hobbies,
and then we transition into oh my gosh, you love the guitar.
Do you play for a living?
That's amazing!
He's gonna say oh, well, yeah, actually,
I'm in a band, or he's gonna say no, no, no,
I don't have time with my work schedule,
and he brings it up now.
- Now who's the expert?
Hmmm, yeah.
- But does that sound like something you can do
or something that you could practice?
- For sure, yeah, 100%.
- I think we might be better at choosing a date for Meghan
because we might consider people
that she might not consider.
- [Dayna] You know, an outside perspective
is always kind of fresh.
- Hi! - Hi.
- Hello.
- So excited to talk to you.
I'm Spicy Mari.
Thank you for joining me.
I heard a lot about you.
Meghan loves you three.
So, tell me a little bit about what kind of guy
you think that she belongs with.
- The number one thing is someone who's very genuine
and I think somebody really goofy.
- And kind of also has their own ambitions.
- [Mari] Have you ever been around one of the guys
who she's brought around you guys
and didn't like them very much?
- [All] Yes.
- What was that like?
What happened?
- Previously, she brought someone
to one of her birthday parties and he was really boring.
It was really hard to hold a conversation.
- She mentioned something about Peter Pan Syndrome.
She usually dates extremely immature guys.
- Yeah, she starts dating a guy and everything is fine,
and then suddenly out of nowhere,
they decide that they don't want to commit.
- I think a lot of the guys, because they're immature,
maybe don't have the self-confidence that she's got
behind her. - She's intimidating.
- It can be intimidating.
- So, have you guys ever before tried
to set her up with somebody you thought
would be a good candidate for her?
- I sent her a picture of someone I saw on a dating app
and she told me she already had a date set up with him.
- Oh, so you guys do know her taste, then.
Okay, you guys know her really well
and I narrowed it down
to who I think would be great candidates for her.
This is Sherman.
Sherman is 40 years old and wants a commitment.
- Hi, my name is Sherman.
I am a technical artist.
Originally from back east and I moved here
to get away from the cold weather.
I enjoy photography.
I love to eat great foods
and I love doing anything not involving a computer.
I'm sitting in front of a computer all the time.
- Preach. - Preach.
And I'm looking to have a girlfriend and have companionship
and somebody I can really enjoy and spend time with.
Okay, buh-bye.
- Buh-bye.
- That was pretty sweet.
- He's a sweetheart. - Actually very, very nice.
- [Mari] Keep him in mind, but on to the next.
So, this is Manan.
He's a mature 30.
- Hey, what's up?
My name is Manan.
For work, I'm an artist, I do music,
I also write screenplays and scripts.
I've got a really big family.
My grandfather had eight brothers and sisters,
but I'm Indian, so that's what you get.
Elementary school. - He's cute and funny.
- What are you looking for in a partner?
A sense of humor, somebody who's ambitious,
somebody who understands the value of tomorrow,
but also appreciates the now.
- Okay, so that's Manan.
He's adorable.
Last but not least, we have Zach.
Zach is 42.
- Hi, so my name is Zach.
I work as a chaplain.
with the Santa Monica Police Department.
Love comedy,
and I just started doing some stand up around town.
And I have two parents, yeah.
I have two dogs.
I love dogs.
What I'm looking for in a lady?
Got a good sense of humor and likes to be silly
and joke around and be sarcastic.
Thanks for watching.
- Do you see why this is hard? - Yeah.
- I want you to think about this 'cause it was challenging,
but they all have a lot of things in common with Meghan.
Okay, Zach.
What are we thinking?
- I like that he was funny.
He got all three of us to laugh.
He has dogs, which is great 'cause Meghan is super
passionate about her dogs. - And he seems really
down to earth, too.
- With the religion thing,
I think it's a little much for Meghan,
but he has two dogs, which makes it better.
- [Mari] And then what about Manan?
What did you think of him?
- [Dayna] I thought he was very charming.
- Personable. - Yeah, very personable.
Seems like he would have no problem
striking up his own conversations
and keeping up with Meghan's busy life.
- But he also has that fresh to LA,
like I'm a screen writer and I do this and I'm an artist
and I do that. - He's got 10 jobs.
- And it's like, alright, talk to me in two years
when you've successfully paid rent out here
and let me know what you're actually doing.
- [Mari] What about Sherman, now?
- In his video, he just seemed very kind,
a little sensitive. - Also personable.
- Yeah, I like that he's from the East Coast
'cause him and Meghan could share that love
of just not being from here. - Yeah.
- Does he have any pets?
- He doesn't have any pets,
but he was specific about wanting to be the priority
if she does have pets.
- What does that mean? - Yeah.
- He said I wanna sleep in the bed with her and not the dog.
- What if they get a bigger bed?
- That solves all problems.
- Okay, so do we have a decision on who we wanna choose?
- I think so, yeah. - We do.
- It's date day.
I feel very nervous, which I normally don't do.
So, I'm hoping to just black out, come to afterwards,
and hopefully it'll have been a great date.
Just hoping that my friends know me well enough
to choose somebody good for me.
It is really hot in this sun.
- Hey, how are you doing? - Hi, good!
I'm Meghan, nice to meet you. - Meghan.
It's a pleasure to meet you, Meghan.
It's a pleasure.
- Yeah, have a seat in the hot sun.
- We're gonna bake a little bit.
- I mean...
- Hot leather jacket.
I like the style that you have on.
- Thank you.
You know,
had I known we were gonna be directly in the sunlight...
So, what's your name?
- My name is Sherman.
- Sherman, nice to meet you.
- It's a pleasure to meet you, too.
I love how you have your name on your necklace.
- Oh, thank you.
- That was nobody has any excuse.
- There's a little spot I think we should go to
and we'll continue now. - Let's do it.
- Awesome! - 'Cause I'm hot too.
- I know.
- After you. - Thank you.
- I love your haircut.
- Oh, thank you. - It's really cute.
- So, how are you feeling about the wine bar?
'Cause you're not a big drinker.
- No, I'm not a big drinker at all.
- [Meghan] So, this is totally clashing.
- [Sherman] Yes, it's a very beautiful design.
- It is very... - It's very nice.
- I'm a fan of latte art.
That lighting is like...
- Yeah, I wanted to make sure, - It's pretty alright.
- I wanted to get a seat to the light.
I do photography, so...
- You know, I like, I have a camera and I shoot things.
I'm really just trying to learn how to use my camera,
which is a change.
- Very challenging.
What type of music are you into?
- 90s hip hop, R&B.
That's very influential still.
- I love music festivals.
- It's like a thing, like a destination, you go camping.
- I don't camp, I glamp.
- Okay, I mean, fair enough. - I'm a glamper.
I will go play in the dirt with you all day,
but my ass needs to go see a shower.
- You need a shower. - How was it?
Was it good?
- It was a very good wine.
- Oh, if you get tired, I'll...
- No, I just wanted to make sure
cause my arm'll be like this. - We'll switch.
It'll start to drift?
- Oh, I think that's Tokyo drifting.
Oh, that's how you can take a picture too.
- Pop it, see what happens.
- We are at The Great American French Fry Company.
We got the dude ranch.
I ordered the coconut curry.
- If you wanna have a cheat day, come here.
Let me try the curry here.
Hmmm, hmmm.
- Also, I've been craving an In N Out burger so bad
for the past two weeks.
- I crave for Fat Burger.
- Ice Cube really sold Fat Burger to me.
- Yes, he did. - So, you know...
Today was a good day.
- Yeah, today was a good day. - Yeah.
- Well, we're wrapping up on our first date.
Meghan here is a very lovely woman.
I've enjoyed my time with her.
- Sherman was a gentleman.
- Yeah, she... - We'll put the shades on now.
- Yeah, put the shades on.
It's so bright out here. - So bright.
- Holla at ya later.
- Hi. - Hi, Mari.
- How did the date go?
- It went really well.
It's always nerve wracking meeting somebody
that you know nothing about. - Right.
- You don't know what they look like.
You literally have no details. - It's a gamble.
- But in the sense of good conversation and very nice
and having a back and forth, first date was good.
- It seemed like he was very complimentary
and they were laughing.
- How do you think that your board did?
- Finding somebody who is a little bit older,
knowing who he was,
like being very comfortable with himself,
has similar interests as far as what we do.
- He asked a lot of questions to dive into get to know her.
- What are you the most grateful for in your life?
- I was like, cool.
Alright, you guys did a good job.
It didn't, yeah.
But I don't know that I would see the passion there.
- Physical touch and affection is what defines it for me.
Without that, it's a no brainer.
This ain't gon' work. - Physical touch and affection
and fries. - And affection.
That too.
- Peter Pan Syndrome.
He didn't have that.
- No.
- This was a foreign experience to you.
So, because it's different,
it might be a little bit uncomfortable.
- It was foreign.
It was definitely foreign.
I was like, what?
- I think she has learned that if they show signs
of Peter Pan Syndrome, that she should just walk away.
That's the greatest thing that Mari pointed out for her.
- I don't wanna see you not go back out with him
when you did have a pleasant experience
because you didn't feel the fireworks that you were hoping.
It doesn't mean that it won't happen later,
it just means we're being smarter in the approach
before we decide to go to the next step with someone.
- I feel like a second date would totally be worth it
whether or not it leads to something romantic or not.
- I definitely think that I will see him again
to see what that is.
- You're worthy of having a healthy relationship.
You just gotta practice healthy dating.
The board decided, you had a good time,
go back out on that date and enjoy yourself.
Treat yourself to happiness right now.
- Thank you for helping.
- I'll be here. - I will.
- You know where to find me.
- Okay, thank you. - Bye, Meghan.
♪ Soul Pancake ♪