With a fresh return from spring break into the chaos of the final month of the spring semester — end-of-course projects, frantic office hour visits and the dreaded finals week — students of Texas A&M were in search of a much-needed de-stressor.
While many Aggies find solace in their usual Friday rituals, University of Texas business sophomore Evan Rama and his team offered an unforgettable alternative on April 4 with their high-energy, edge-of-your-seat program: The KUPID Dating Show.
“First week of freshman year, I was in my dorm and I wanted to start a club, so I started researching what to do on campus,” Rama said. “And I had a list of 10 ideas. Nine out of the 10 were done already, and I didn’t want to do a copycat club. So I was like, ‘Let me try something different.’”
The KUPID Dating Show is Rama’s own combination of blind dating and matchmaking. Contestants sit with a wall separating them and answer a series of deep-cut questions. At the end of each round, a contestant is eliminated, and at the end of the show, the final two are asked if they would like to go on a date with each other with a $100 prize.
Here’s where Rama introduces his unique twist: If one contestant says no and the other says yes, the one who declined goes home with the cash. If both say yes, they share the $100 on their first date. But if both say no, neither receives the prize money or a date.
Traveling and doing shows in UT Austin and UT Dallas with plans to visit University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Rutgers, Rama and the show entered College Station with a bang. But at first, Rama feared there wouldn’t be many attendees in his first few UT shows.
“No one thought a show was actually going to happen, and we were scared,” Rama said. “No one was there at 6 p.m. Ten minutes later, it was fully packed.”
That momentum made its way to A&M. The entire 600-seat auditorium was jammed with drama-hungry onlookers waiting to see Rama and his team spin their magic. Rama opened the show with a memorable introduction of the contestants — TikTok-style edits of each participant were displayed on the big screen. Once the laughs were out and the atmosphere was set, Rama dove right into the juicy questions, beginning the night of bold confessions and unexpected twists.
Rama’s series of questions left little room for predictability. They ranged from lighthearted prompts like “What’s your ideal night out?” and “What’s your go-to dance move?” to questions so wildly unexpected that it’d leave people wondering if the show was staged. There’s no way Rama would really ask a contestant to call their ex live in front of over 600 people, right? Wrong.
Throughout the show, crowd members were invited to weigh in on the contestants and even share their own answers to the show’s featured questions. Rama also tossed over 50 plushies to random audience members as a thank-you for their enthusiasm, cementing his commitment to audience participation. Rama’s dedication to his ideas is not new — in fact, it’s the very thing that brought him and his show to where it is.
“[To advertise my first show] I ended up dressing up in a Halloween costume and scaring people on our street throughout campus, and went to our food halls and would serve people food,” Rama said. “We marketed the first show for six months straight.”
And if Rama’s passion for his craft doesn’t justify his success, his willingness to sacrifice for it certainly does. Most aspiring entrepreneurs will plan out their big dreams, network tirelessly and educate themselves endlessly, but contributing their own funds is where many falter or even give up. This is not the case for Rama.
“I’ve probably dropped around $4,000 out of my own pocket, and then I took out a $7,500 loan, so we’re still paying that back,” Rama said.
The investments and sacrifices they made were worth it, though, as Friday night saw Rama and his team finish to a standing ovation of laughter and an encore following a thrilling spectacle of upsets, gossip and drama. Times like these are his favorite part of running his game show, Rama said.
“Every location is a different experience, and it feels great to bring our little school club to all the universities in Texas,” Rama said.
After their tour at A&M, The KUPID Dating Show and Rama have optimistic wishes for the future, and Rama may be on track to be the next name of entertainment hosting. Provided continued show success, dropping out of college full time in order to run his entertainment company ‘Crash Media’ has been a plan, Rama said.
Despite Rama’s financial sacrifices, invested time and incredible potential, he promises a stable, intrinsic purpose for his show — the reason he started it in the first place, and the reason he’s keeping it going.
“It’s [all] comedy,” said Rama. “I set it up for the purpose of just entertaining people.”
