- Matt Wurnig is the creator of the online series 50 Dates 50 States.
- Wurnig, 28, has been on a date in every state at least twice.
- He told BI his favorite date spots around the country include hot air ballooning in New Mexico.
More than three-quarters of people under the age of 30 who are using online-dating tools have used Tinder, the Pew Research Center reported in 2023.
But not all Tinder users have the same approach as 28-year-old Matt Wurnig.
Wurnig is the creator of the online series 50 Dates 50 States, which, yes, is exactly what it sounds like. He told BI he conceptualized the idea during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.
“No one knew what was really going on,” he said. “I hopped on the dating app Tinder, and it said that you could place your location anywhere in the US for free. And me being a bored single bachelor, I was just like, ‘OK, this is kind of fun.'”
After placing his location in various big cities like Los Angeles, New York, Miami, and Dallas, Wurnig decided to go on a virtual date with a woman in every state. The dates gained traction on TikTok — a video with all 50 of his dates on a Zoom call got 3.8 million views — inspiring him to “up the ante” and go visit each date in person.
Wurnig said he quit his job with the Bismarck Larks in North Dakota before officially hitting the road in January 2021. Six months later, he wrapped his cross-country dating tour in his home state of Montana, documenting it all with video clips and photos shared to TikTok and Instagram.
After season one’s success, he put out a call for applications for season two which was documented on YouTube and wrapped in September 2022 with his top four dates joining him on “Good Morning America” to reveal his favorite.
Wurnig described the dates in both of these seasons as “tag team” efforts, telling BI he lets the women lead the date planning “since they know what the fun things to do in each city are, or since they’re from there, they have a good feel for what’s going on.” Then, he adds his own ideas based on research and other factors like production logistics.
Now, as he continues to prep for season three’s adventures, BI spoke with Wurnig about his dating experiences to learn about some of his favorites across the US, in no particular order.
“Now my answers to these are going to be probably pretty adventurous,” Wurnig warned. “Experience makes people bond together.”
