The Jewish Dating Game is celebrating its 40th show on the Lower East Side

Going on a blind date usually means having to explain how it went afterward. At The Jewish Dating Game, the audience gets to follow along in real time and have opinions before the couple has even gone to dinner.

The live matchmaking show returns to Caveat on the Lower East Side on Tuesday, October 20 at 7pm for what its organizers identify as its 40th performance. Created and hosted by actor and writer Linnea Sage, with her husband Paul Lehrman producing and directing, the evening puts Jewish singles on stage to choose a date in front of a paying audience.

The format borrows from the television series The Dating Game. A participant questions potential matches without seeing them, then chooses someone to take to dinner. In its December 2024 report, New York Jewish Week described a divider separating the chooser from three contestants, whose names and occupations were also withheld. Questions written by Sage gave participants a way to get beyond the usual introductions before making their selection.

That arrangement gives the audience an informational advantage: everyone watching can see the people the chooser is trying to assess by their answers. It also makes a fairly private judgment into a public bit of theater. You get to consider whether you would have picked the same person, without being responsible for the ensuing dinner conversation.

The current program includes two matchmaking rounds, with two newly paired couples receiving sponsored restaurant dates. There are audience raffles and time to mingle after the performance, so the opportunity to meet someone extends beyond the people selected for the stage. Prospective contestants must buy a ticket and submit an application; purchasing admission alone doesn’t guarantee a spot in the game.

Since its July 2024 launch, the show has expanded beyond New York, now hitting Washington, DC, Philadelphia, Miami and the Catskills. The series has even broader ambitions, hoping to one day give people a recurring place to socialize as Jews without requiring synagogue membership or an active search for a partner.

That helps explain the invitation to couples as well as singles. For someone already attached, the evening offers a comedy and matchmaking show to watch together. For someone looking, there’s the application—and the possibility of a conversation afterward that doesn’t require an audience.