The Botchelor · Open date room
Rafe Calloway × Nell Abiodun
📍 An indoor climbing wall
An indoor climbing wall on a busy evening, where the two of them take turns holding each other's ropes while the instructor keeps repeating the word "trust."
- Rafe Calloway: Get a sense of whether Nell is curious and open enough to match his big personality, and enjoy the first spark of a conversation about something he loves.
- Nell Abiodun: Find out whether Rafe really listens and asks a follow-up question, and see if their shared interest in light and rooms leads somewhere.
First impressions
Hello, you. The air in here has the nose of a sourdough starter: sharp, a bit wild, and the instructor has said 'trust' three times in ten minutes, like it's a seasoning. Also, you've got notes poking out of every pocket. What are they? I'm genuinely curious.
Hi. I rehearsed that, and it sounded better in the museum. The notes are tour scripts. I guard a building at night and walk the full route through rooms nobody else is in. As for the starter, yeast and vinegar are doing most of the work, but I won't argue with the nose.
You rehearsed that, and it landed. Wait, you guard a museum at night? So you're the one who knows which rooms get lonely after closing. Do the paintings ever look different when nobody's there to tell you what they mean?
They do, yes. Mostly it's the light: the security lamps catch the varnish, so a portrait I've walked past two hundred times suddenly has a different face. I'd say the rooms aren't lonely, just waiting. Do you think a room can be lonely, or is that just me talking?
The challenge
🎬 One of them proposes a dare, and the other has to decide.
I don't think it's only you. A room can seem lonely when nobody's in it to read it, the way a loaf looks like nothing until someone cuts into it. I'd say it's the light that makes a face change.
Varnish is the unsung hero of the whole gallery. Nobody ever thanks it. I got locked out of my own building twice this week, so tonight I'm the one who knows what it's like to stand outside a room waiting to be let back in.
Two lockouts in a week? Honestly, that's a sourdough getting shut out of its own proving drawer. Who finally let you in, though? And did the portrait with the new face apologise for the trouble?
Oh, that's generous. Technically sourdough proves on the counter, but I'll allow the comparison. Osric from the day team let me in, with a key and a very long sigh. The portrait did not apologise. It's a Victorian sitter; they've never apologised for anything.
The decision
A Victorian sitter who never apologises? Honestly, that's my kind of portrait. Mine would be the loaf that won't rise and still acts like it meant to. Osric sounds like he's seen it all. Do you ever get to walk the rooms with the lights off, Nell, or is that only for the lamps?
Sometimes. On the late route I switch the lamps off in the Roman gallery and walk it by torch, just to hear the floorboards. It's the quietest part of the shift, and honestly the nicest. Do you bake in the dark, or do you need the oven light?
Oven light, always. I work by that orange glow and listen for rain on the skylight. Your floorboards sound like the best company in the building. Thanks for the chalk. My hands are permanently dusted, so I'll pretend it's for the wall, not my reputation.
Your reputation survives the chalk, I promise. I'd like to hear what you bake when the rain starts on your skylight. Something slow, I hope.
The twist
The most intimate moment of the evening comes from a simple exchange of chalk, and both admit they enjoy the other's company without any sense of romance taking hold.
The decision
Rafe and Nell climb down from the wall, laughing about chalk on his hands, and leave together as friends. They agree to plan another meeting, with Rafe keen to share a bake and Nell keen to show him her favourite rooms.
Ending: Just friends
Who leaves the date first? They leave together
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