‘Swiping America’ Is a Different Kind of Dating Show [Interview]

How far would you go to find love? For Kesun Lee, who stars in the new docuseries Swiping America (debuting on Max on June 15), “a really horrible date” made her realize it might be time to look beyond New York if she wanted to find a guy to settle down with. 

After coming home from her disappointing night out, the real estate agent spotted an ad seeking people who were “sick of dating in New York” for a different kind of reality dating show. She shot off a quick message, which led to her getting cast in Swiping America. 

The eight-episode romantic documentary, or “rom doc,” follows Kesun and three other single New Yorkers in their 30s – entrepreneur Ashleigh Warren, hairstylist and writer Reagan Baker, and data scientist Krishnanand “Kris” Kelkar –  as they visit eight different cities around the U.S. in a quest to find their perfect match. They agree to let the producers do the swiping and set them up on blind dates in Asheville, Miami, Austin, New Orleans, Santa Fe, Boulder, and Seattle. The eight-week journey ends in Hawaii, where they invite their best match to join them in Honolulu and hopefully begin a new relationship. 

Kris knew signing up for ‘Swiping America’ would ‘cause a lot of chaos’ in his life  

Rather than manufactured drama and an interchangeable cast of generically attractive singles, Swiping America offers an authentic look at the realities of dating in the modern era while exploring issues about sex, intimacy, relationships, and connection. The cast is diverse in race and sexual orientation, and with each other and their dates, they unpack complicated family dynamics, sexual difficulties, commitment fears, and more. 

“It was pitched [to me] as a docuseries that was meant to be intentionally very sophisticated and unlike anything else, any other dating show that had been presented so far,” Kesun explained. 

For Kris, the chance to participate in Swiping America was exciting, but also a little scary. 

“I was kind of feeling at home and alone,” he said of his decision to follow up on a DM from a producer. “And I was just recently out of a relationship. And so I really wanted to see where this went.”

“I was talking to my therapist and I was like, ‘I just feel really stuck in my life and I want to press this button that’s certainly going to cause a lot of chaos.’ And it did,” he added.

Once the group hit the road, they found themselves exploring places they might never have visited. Some of the cities defied their initial assumptions. 

“I think Asheville challenged me and was just surprising because I didn’t know what to expect,” Ash, who is a lesbian, said. “I didn’t even know Asheville was a place. And so when we got there, I was like, ‘Why are we here? Like, queers don’t live here. They can’t do it.’ And they do. And so that was shocking.”

The ‘Swiping America’ cast formed lasting friendships

One thing that wasn’t a challenge for anyone was getting comfortable with their fellow castmates, with whom they traveled for two months. The four clicked immediately upon meeting, which was a relief for Reagan.

“I was so worried,” she said of her attitude going into the process. “If everyone’s cool or interesting or deep or something, this could be really awesome. But what if everyone’s corny? And then we had a chem test and we met each other there and it was really immediate natural chemistry. When they told us the four of us had been chosen. I immediately said, ‘Yes. Where do I sign?’”

Those friendships endured after filming wrapped. For Ash, one of the biggest takeaways from her Swiping America experience was realizing “you can still make incredible friends in your 30s.”

“I think I thought I had all my friends set for my lifetime,” she said. “And I’m like, ‘These people are stuck with me forever. I love them.’ And it just felt great.”

The first two episodes of Swiping America premiere Thursday, June 15 on Max. The next four episodes will drop on June 22, and the final two episodes will be available on June 29.

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