CINCINNATI — Is age just a number? A new Netflix dating show featuring one local woman looks to answer that question.
While dating someone significantly older (or younger) might scare some, Cincinnati native Sophie Schumacher knew nothing could be worse than some of the guys she had dated who were actually her age.
"The last date that I had gone on, he picked me up and called me heavy and 'a tank,' and he also had a secret Twitter account (where) he would tweet about me," Schumacher said. "That was probably one of the worst dating experiences that I've had."
So when the now-28-year-old got a DM from a casting agent asking her if she was interested in a new ageless dating show, she took the leap.
"Sure, throw me in a dating pool with people up to 60 years old — maybe that'll be better," Schumacher said.
After a bunch of interviews and conversations about exactly how many years older she'd be willing to date ("I would date nine years older, and I'm calling it at that"), Schumacher was told she made the cast of "Age of Attraction."
It's not crazy to wonder just how happy her friends and family members were about seeing their loved one date people of all ages on a major streaming service, but Schumacher said she was shocked at how supportive her family was — even her little brothers.
"I was so nervous to tell them because I thought they'd be like, 'Sophie, (no).' ... I was just expecting the worst," she said. "It was actually my friends who were like, 'Sophie, this is gonna be like a Bill Belichick situation.' They would send me memes and photos of him and the girl he's dating."
Still, she told them the point wasn't to date a 73-year-old football coach. It was about leaving age out of the conversation. Knowing that, she traveled to Whistler, Canada, to join 39 other singles ranging in age from 22 to 60 on a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
It was then that Schumacher said she learned just how hard the show would be pushing age gaps. Even the hosts, former "The Bachelor" star Nick Viall and wife Natalie Joy, spoke about their own 18-year age gap before the singles started speed dating on Day 1.
"That's exactly when I realized ... what did I get myself into?" Schumacher said.
As she began meeting the eligible men, Schumacher said she started to question just how old she would be willing to date — and how old her fellow contestants were. As part of the show, no one was allowed to speak about their age, only revealing it after committing to one person.
"I look around and more people come to sit across from me and there's people my age, there's people who are maybe just slightly older, slightly younger, but the majority were these guys who were 40, 50, you know, I (later) find out one of them is 60 and I was like, 'Oh my God, alright, I'll give this my best chance, but I don't think that I'm supposed to be here right now,'" she said.
The producers never required that contestants pick a partner whose age is significantly higher or lower, allowing the contestant to mingle however they wanted, but Schumacher said the show didn't follow those stories.
Not that it mattered as much to her — "even the people younger than me or my age, I honestly was not interested in anyway."
So, Schumacher made a decision not often shown in the final cut of these shows: she left.
"I was talking to one of the cast managers, and I was just kind of like, you know what, I don't think this is for me," Schumacher said. "I've loved the experience. It's nothing against this whole thing in general, but ... I was like, 'I just don't feel like there's anyone here for me.'"
The producers, she said, didn't push her to stay, giving her both her phone and keys back to explore Whistler before she headed back home.
Back in Cincinnati, the assistant merchant at Columbus-based slipper company Dearfoams said she has no regrets about the experience. She's still in an active group chat with the other women from the cast and loved her short stay at the Whistler retreat.
"I love being put in new situations that are outside my comfort zone," she said. "That 100% was just like a once-in-a-lifetime experience that I would do again, but I would encourage almost anyone to do it, just because you learn so much about yourself, I think, just being thrown into something where you're like, 'I don't know what to expect today, I don't know what to expect within the next hour. I just have to be prepared for anything and roll with the punches.'"
Schumacher said she's looking for Mr. Right — though she said she fears Cincinnati "might be a pit of a dating scene."
"I don't know if it's just Cincinnati feeling like too small of a world sometimes, but I feel like I know everybody, and if I don't know everybody, then I hear horror stories from other people's dating situations and being ghosted," Schumacher said.
And while she said the show didn't change her mind on how much older she wants her future partner to be — "we cut it off at 9" — Schumacher said the experience taught her to keep an open mind in her next dating adventure.
"I think that is the best thing ... I went into that with an open mind. It didn't work out, but that doesn't mean that it won't work out right now, you know, having that same mindset," she said. "I can't be like, 'Alright, I tried that, failed that.'"
For now, Schumacher said she's focusing on herself and "making sure that I'm happy and aligned with myself." And if the Netflix Reality Universe calls again, she just might be available.
The second drop of "Age of Attraction" came out Wednesday, March 18. The finale airs on March 25.
