As Stellenbosch prepares itself for photographers in Victoria Street, dresses, suits, and some questionable dance moves, Shhh!Stellies – a blind date platform that matches users with dates for a house dance – is helping students alleviate the pressure of finding a house dance date with their blind date platform.
The idea for this platform was born out of necessity, and a bit of fun. The creators of Shhh!Stellies say, “people want to meet others in a low-pressure, exciting way, and blind dates are perfect for that. With our engineering backgrounds and some technical know-how, we decided to turn the idea into a proper platform…”
While the platform is new, having only launched on 26 July 2025, it is making waves in the way people find dance dates. By simply following four steps and filling in a Microsoft form, the creators of this platform match you with a perfect date. The technicalities of this process include an algorithm that creates matches for people… based on their preferences and compatibility.”
Shhh!Stellies is “…fast approaching 100 users, and we’ve already had 10 students go on successful dates through the platform… the interest has been incredible.” The team explains that, “Our goal is to ensure that every user gets paired with someone who suits what they’re looking for — and it’s working really well so far.”
If you are a skeptic or simply worry about safety, Shhh!Stellies has catered for your concerns and explains that, “we’re especially proud [that] every single user is a verified Maties student. We’re building this by students, for students.”
“We take privacy very seriously. All data is collected through secure forms […] the dating profiles are stored in an external database that’s only accessible to us. Keeping things private, safe and respectful is at the core of what we do.”
By Emma Theron
