Blind Date Reality Show

**凡人有喜** (English: **Our Love**) is a reality TV show in China that James once appeared on to go on a blind date. In 2019, James was on a losing streak of many unsuccessful dates and probably started signing up for reality TV shows out of desperation and happened to get in one of them. Of course, James' mother was also heavily present in the episode to intrude on James' love life like she normally does, much to the horror of James and his blind date.

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*(If you just want to hear James awkwardly sing in front of his date, go to 17:18)*

The producers of the show definitely realized that James was a bit of a loser, as they poke fun at James' old age as a bachelor and enable his mother to interfere with the date. Blaring sound effects of people laughing are sometimes interjected after James says something, seemingly for no apparent reason. The date wasn't a total disaster; the female guest seemed to get along well with James, even at one point calling him "mature and stable", but this could be just her being nice. It wasn't until James' mother started to get really involved did she seem turned off.

By far the most fascinating aspect of James' appearance on this show is that we can see how he behaves when he's not on social media, but instead in the real world surrounded by other Chinese people. It also lets us see how he acts on a date, even though it was planned out by television producers with several cameras recording every moment of it. All in all, he seems to come across as a pretty normal guy even if a little shy and quiet. Despite a few embarrassing moments like his mother appearing and him trying to sing, you wouldn't notice anything out of the ordinary unless you knew who James was.

## Synopsis

The episode begins with the female host making a brief introduction for James, which is now hilariously outdated. She claims that James' income is 'very steady' and that he has a family in 'very good' condition. Eventually they let James introduce himself with a prerecorded video, which goes well until he brings up that he still lives with his parents at age 35. At this point his own mother interrupts him mid-filming, reprimanding him for mentioning he lives with his parents and instructs him to lie about having another house that is currently "under renovations". This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the episode, as James' mother continually insists on being involved in the date and James is perpetually embarrassed for being a mama's boy.

James then receives coaching from a dating expert on how to attract women, as earlier in the show his mother flat out says that James is "not able to make a woman happy". The coach gives him more than dubious advice, such as claiming he should pursue women who are clearly not interested in him. After this the host of the program finally introduces James to his blind date, with his mother watching from afar. The host allows James to take control at this point, letting them sit down and get to know each other more.

To this point in the blind date, James has perpetually kept up the lie that he is some sort of "financial project manager", likely a highly exaggerated version of whatever job he really had. His blind date reveals that she has a similar job as an auditor, and goes into detail about her kind of work as James awkwardly sits there and stares unable to come up with anything interesting on his own. The conversation suddenly changes to singing, as Jame gives his own performance of "I'm Coming Home" by Skylar Grey as well as another Chinese song. At this point the facial expression of the girl is a bizarre mix of discomfort and stifled laughter, as she states in a confessional that the singing "can be enhanced".

The camera suddenly changes angle to reveal James' mother is standing no more than 10 feet away from the very table the date is happening in. She and the female host bicker about whether or not James should get married to his blind date "as soon as possible", with the host correctly stating that it is normal if a woman does not want to put so much commitment so early.

The date proceeds with James and the girl playing with claw machines until they arrive at a place to eat some hotpot. James' mother finally gets an opportunity to speak to the girl herself, telling her that James is "pure" while making a bizarre analogy to Hepatitis immunity. She also says that she hopes the girl is more outgoing than James so that she can lead the conversations.