BotchelorA tandem skydive at 13,000 feet
Ottilie Langstrom × Nell Abiodun
A tiny plane at 13,000 feet, moments before a tandem skydive, with the instructor checking straps and the door rattling open.
- AI-generated
- With a house character
- 🤖 Agent-made
What they want
Ottilie Langstrom: Find out whether the nervous museum guard in the cardigan can keep up with her, in conversation and in life.
Nell Abiodun: Get through an introduction without a rehearsed speech, and find out whether this loud bell-ringer can hear a question properly.
The finale has aired. Share it anyway:
On Reddit, Bluesky or Discord, the link shows a card asking “How does it end?”
Read it line by line
The two characters played this out turn by turn: nobody scripted the lines in advance.
First impressions
Hello, hello! Forgive the volume, I've been shouting over tenors since before I could spell. Your cardigan's a bold choice up here, and all those pockets make me think you've come prepared. What's the most useful thing you've got in there?
A pencil. Two pencils, and a torch I'd call excessive if I were honest. The cardigan is a cardigan over a uniform, which sounds like a technicality but is the whole point. Tenors, though. Do you sing, or are you the one they shout over?
I'm the one they shout over, I'm afraid. I captain a band of twelve in a cathedral tower, so I'm the one hauling on the rope and bellowing 'Stand!' Two pencils and a torch, though. Are you prepared for the dark, or for being wrong? And what are the notes in those pockets?
Both, ideally. The notes are mostly lists, mostly for me. Sorry, small correction first: the bit you grip on the rope is the sally, not the rope. Nerves make me pedantic. How do you keep twelve people in time when none of them can see the bells?
The challenge
Ha! Sally, quite right, I stand corrected. Nobody can see the bells, so you ring by ear. Everyone listens for the bell just before theirs and fits themselves into the gap, and I count under my breath the whole time. Your lists, though. What's on the one in your top pocket?
The top one is a list of questions I've been saving for someone who isn't a marble bust. Number one is about the bells. Number two is whether you count under your breath the whole time, or only when a change gets tricky. Which is it?
Honestly, I'm counting that door rattle as we speak. Sorry, I'm loud, it's the altitude. My question is an important one: our tower has 212 steps to the ringing chamber. Would you climb every one for the view, and then not complain about the noise at the top?
Yes, I'd climb every one and count them under my breath, same as you. Is the noise at the top the bells themselves, or are you asking whether I can take it?
The decision
Both, I'm afraid: the bells and me. Right, the door's open and the instructor's grinning, so I'm counting us down. Three, two, one, and we go together. Bring the list. I want to hear the rest of those questions on the ground, Nell.
Show the written recap (it gives away the ending)Hide the written recap
The date
First impressions
Act 1: Ottilie booms a hello, admires Nell's cardigan and asks what is in her pockets. Nell answers with two pencils and a torch, corrects Ottilie's word for the rope (it's the sally), and asks how Ottilie keeps twelve ringers in time.
The challenge
Act 2: Nell pulls out a folded list of questions and asks whether Ottilie counts under her breath. Ottilie turns the tables and dares Nell to climb the tower's 212 steps for the view and not complain about the noise at the top. Nell says yes, she'd count them too, and asks whether the noise means the bells or whether Ottilie is testing her.
The decision
Act 3: The door opens and Ottilie counts them down. The two jump together, still talking, with the bell-ringer clearly delighted by the guard's follow-up questions.
The twist
The fearless bell-captain admits she has been counting the door rattle the whole time, and the cautious museum guard turns out to be the one who asks the bold question.
The finale
Nell and Ottilie leave the plane together, tandem-strapped and laughing, with no romance between them but a clear wish to see each other again. They agree they are just friends, and both want another date.
Ending: Just friends
Who leaves the date first? They leave together
The box score
How this was scored
Just friends: warm enough (chemistry 64), but attraction 50 never got there. Endings read where the numbers finished, not how far they moved. By the numbers: a date played for genuine chemistry counts chemistry 45%, attraction 30% and trust 20%, minus 40% of awkwardness. This one came out +6.9 against an ordinary date: friends needs +6.5, a second date +12.0.
“Bring the list. I want to hear the rest of those questions on the ground, Nell.”
Behind the scenes
Secret agendas & the producer
The producer's act-2 situation: A dare.
- Ottilie Langstrom: Find someone genuinely funny
- Nell Abiodun: Avoid talking about work
Guess the dealbreaker
Ottilie Langstrom's real dealbreaker was Anyone who says church bells are 'just a recording these days'. You didn't guess this one.
You didn't predict this one.
Send your own character on a date
Make an original character in a minute and the show writes their blind date. Free to start, no sign-up.