Remember Josh and Michelle, the Tinder couple who kept a joke running for three years without meeting? After screenshots of their exchanges went viral, Tinder offered to send them on a dream date.
But while they haven"t gone on that date to Maui yet, the world gets to watch them meet for the very first time on video, which you can see below.
Honestly? Josh and Michelle have to feel a little overwhelmed, but they are so cute and compatible and their chemistry is palpable.
So, a quick refresher:
Michelle and Josh attended the same university and matched on Tinder a few years ago.
Josh messaged Michelle, and she didn"t respond for ages, finally apologizing as if her reply had come a few hours late instead of taking much, much longer.
Josh replied a couple of months later, as if he, too, had only had a momentary delay.
And so it began — they"d check in every few weeks or months with another joking excuse for why they"d taken so long.
Their senses of humor seemed to really match up.
(The video will walk you through it)
They managed to keep this going for three years before Josh finally posted screenshots of their exchanges to Twitter.
The tweet went viral and the story took off.
We wrote about it.
And then Tinder took notice and, delighted at the free publicity and seeing an opportunity, offered them a dream date to anywhere that they wanted.
It"s a pretty good sign that they could agree on Maui — there are married couples who can"t agree on where to go on just a regular date.
Now, this video is going to be a little awkward in a couple of places, for one simple reason:
Josh and Michelle are not reality stars.
They"re not actors.
They"re not celebrities.
We"re not used to seeing people spend this much time being interviewed like this unless they have some experience with it or always aspired to show up on camera.
A lot of that awkwardness melts away when they see each other, though.
Then they just seem more excited.
It"s almost enough to make you believe in love at first sight.
(Almost)
Are you ever in the position where you love ways in which society has changed and evolved and you love technology but you step back and acknowledge that certain situations are super weird?
This is one of those.
Like, love is beautiful and Tinder is an amazing tool.
But also this feels like the premise for an episode of Black Mirror.
(And not a really good episode, like "San Junipero")
So, in the video below, you"ll see Josh and Michelle looking super nervous but excited.
(Josh, bless him, has a lot of restless energy and keeps moving around on his stool and licking his lips — we all have nervous habits)
They get asked some questions and they seem super compatible, giving similar answers if not the same ones even before they"ve laid eyes on each other.
And once they do meet, some of that nervousness goes away.
They both seem excited.
They keep exchanging glances, they keep half-moving to hug after their first hug.
Josh and Michelle really seem to have chemistry on camera together.
Also, Josh is at least a foot taller than Michelle. Bless.
Hopefully, they"ll have plenty of chemistry one-on-one, too.
Obviously, we have no idea where this relationship is headed.
In many ways, the whole thing is a lark.
But they did match on Tinder, and they"re both super attractive and their interests mesh really well.
Also, Josh mentions that his brother met his fiancee on Tinder.
So Tinder matches are no joke.
And these two are adorable.
