March 6, 2025
SINGAPORE – How much would you pay to meet the love of your life? For one woman, that figure comes up to $2,000.
Ms Bella Dai, 29, began sharing her $2,000 bounty and dating criteria on her Instagram account (@bellzdai) in February.
“I am looking for a life partner that embodies the following qualities,” reads her post. These qualities include being a straight man aged 25 to 42, who is based in Singapore; possessing a “mastery in his craft”; having an interest in wellness and fitness; having the “courage to face difficult conversations”; and being open to explore spirituality for self-development.
A key condition: The bounty can be collected only if the referral results in a committed relationship that lasts at least six months.
Chengdu-born Ms Dai, a former industrial designer who is the founder of a wellness company, moved to Singapore at age 15 and has a degree in design art from Nanyang Technological University. The 29-year-old said she was inspired to create the bounty after a conversation with a friend made her wonder what would happen if she applied work principles to her personal life.
“I realised the struggle we have with finding a relationship is the search. None of my friends join dating apps because the intent of people on those is very unpredictable,” said the Chinese national who is a Singapore permanent resident. Her longest relationship lasted for four years, and her last one ended in 2020.
“If I was a product, how would I market myself? How would I make my status known among my friends?” she told The Straits Times. “Because every campaign starts with awareness, I wanted people to know that I am available and I am looking.”
She decided on the $2,000 figure because she thought it would be a large enough sum to shock or leave a lingering impression, but not so much that it might make one go “too crazy” for the cash.
Since launching her campaign, Ms Dai has received five referrals from friends, accompanied by the prospective date’s Instagram or LinkedIn profile.
Two of these prospects have been serious, and she has gone out on three dates with one of them.
Ms Dai is not the first to resort to a bounty approach to finding love. In 2024, The New York Times (NYT) reported that US tech worker Anatoliy Zaslavskiy was offering a US$100,000 (S$134,000) dating bounty, to be paid out over a four-year schedule, to the person who would introduce him to his future partner.
Mr Zaslavskiy told NYT that the online ridicule sparked by the unusual nature of his quest was part of its appeal. As at December 2024, the bounty was still active.
Ms Dai said she arrived at the idea on her own, after considering how much money one might spend on a professional matchmaker. She added that using a bounty has clear benefits over hiring a matchmaker or using a dating app.
Ms Bella Dai’s Instagram post sharing the qualities she hopes to find in a life partner and the $2,000 bounty she is offering. PHOTO: CONTRIBUTED/THE STRAITS TIMES
Even though dating apps and other online communities have become synonymous with dating, disillusionment over their usefulness has set in, leading to the rise of alternatives such as blind-dating shows and in-person speed dating.
Part of this stems from mismatched intentions. A 2024 YouGov survey found that Singapore Tinder users are more likely to be “social daters” seeking new friends rather than “serious daters”.
In contrast, Ms Dai said putting out a bounty means that her friends will take some of the guesswork out of vetting a prospective date. Friends who know her well can also better identify compatible matches who are more aligned with her interests.
“I’m in the wellness, yoga and spirituality world, so it does take someone with an open mind to hang out with me,” she said.
It also reduces the likelihood of being ghosted. “That’s what’s great about meeting through friends. You don’t have to worry about being ghosted because you know they wouldn’t do that to a friend’s friend,” she added.
Though such an approach might not be for everyone, Ms Dai believes that people looking for love should consider how best to let their friends know their seriousness in finding it.
In career-driven cultures like Singapore’s, much time and focus are placed on one’s professional life. “But, in our personal lives, we sort of expect things to happen magically,” she said.
“It doesn’t have to be so public,” she added, referring to her open call for suitors. “The key thing is to put ourselves in front of people we can trust.”