Having now been on 34 dates as part of her TikTok series Andrea hopes one real conversation could eventually turn into a lasting relationship
Andrea Giro Adeleye, 22, the creator behind “streetdates”
Swipes, screenshots and being left on read – it wasn’t always like this. And Andrea Giro Adeleye is fed up.
Armed with a selfie stick and her phone camera, the 22-year-old spends her time approaching strangers across Manchester and asks them one thing: Would you like to go on a date?
Now, what began as a search for genuine human connection has since grown into something far bigger; a public challenge to modern dating culture and a surprisingly emotional portrait of a generation struggling to connect online.
Compiling her encounters on her TikTok series “Streetdates”, the University of Manchester student is trying to prove there is still another way in an era when dating has become dominated by apps.
She describes the project with a slogan: “Finding love the old school way”.
“I’ve always been against dating apps,” she told the Manchester Evening News. “People think liking your story is flirting now and that’s completely lost on me.”
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“We’ve digitalised relationships. There is so much beauty in just having a conversation with a stranger.”
Now in her final year of university, Andrea said the idea came after becoming increasingly frustrated with dating apps and online interactions.
“I felt very disillusioned with love when I went on dating apps,” she said. “It felt like people were there for a fun time and not a long time.
“I consider myself to be someone with a lot of personality and I didn’t feel like I could showcase that on a profile with three questions and five pictures.”
Valentine’s Day date in Paris after meeting on campus a day before the flight
Before Streetdates, Andrea already had experience creating content online and working with brands for social media, but she said she eventually realised she wanted to create something more personal and meaningful. She said: “When I sat with myself and thought about what I genuinely loved doing, it was talking to people.
“I love dating, getting to know people and hearing about their lives.”
Rather than starting a podcast or following trends she felt were oversaturated, Andrea wanted to create something different, content that was entertaining while also carrying a deeper message.
“For me, the message with streetdates is: Go outside and talk to people,” she said.
“The deeper message is that we are humans and there’s so much beauty in speaking to strangers, whether that’s flirting with someone or just making friends.”
The first streetdates video began with a leap of faith and cold hours of rejection. Determined not to back out of the idea, Andrea bought herself a new phone and selfie stick as motivation to commit to filming.
She then headed alone to the Northern Quarter in October and began approaching strangers. For three hours, nobody agreed to go on a date with her.
“It doesn’t matter how confident you are, it is scary… If you watch the first video, there are loads of rejections,” she laughed. “People weren’t rejecting me because it was me, they were confused because it was not normal anymore.”
Eventually, one stranger agreed.
“I just sat down and started asking random questions,” she said. “But afterwards I realised I’d just had the opportunity to really learn about someone’s life and I felt like I hadn’t done that in a long time.”
That moment convinced her to keep going. Andrea believes many young people now feel trapped in a dating culture they do not actually enjoy, but continue participating in it because it feels unavoidable.
“I think as a generation, people are fed up with dating apps,” she said. “But everybody’s on them, so it becomes hard to break away.”
She says modern dating has created a generation increasingly uncomfortable with direct interaction.
“I’ve been out with friends and they’ll see someone attractive, but instead of speaking to them, they want to go home and look them up on Instagram,” she said. “The person is right in front of you. This is unfathomable to me.”
Andrea also believes social media has encouraged people to treat relationships as disposable, with appearances becoming more important than personality.
She said: “We’ve lost the value of character. There’s always this idea that somebody better looking is around the corner. But humans aren’t replaceable.”
Andrea on a date with a stranger at a rooftop bar for Day 32 of streetdates
She argues dating apps encourage users to make instant decisions based almost entirely on physical appearance.
“If relationships become entirely based on looks, then everybody starts to feel replaceable,” she said. She says many young people simultaneously crave connection while fearing genuine interactions.
“Being mysterious and not talking to people is almost a flex now,” she said. “But people crave human connection.”
“It’s strange because everybody wants connection, but when somebody actually tries to speak to you, everybody gets uncomfortable.”
One of the strongest reactions to her videos, Andrea says, has been the number of messages she receives from viewers describing feelings of loneliness.
She said: “You’d be surprised how many people message me saying they feel really lonely. People tell me they relate to what I’m doing because they miss genuine interaction.”
Despite the humour that often appear in her videos, Andrea insists the project has always been genuine.
“These dates are very serious to me,” she said. “When I go on them, I genuinely think this could be my person.”
At one point she believed she may have actually found him.
One date developed into something far more serious than a filmed interaction. The pair continued seeing each other privately and built what she thought could become a long-term relationship.
“I genuinely thought I was ready to quit Streetdates,” she said. The relationship eventually ended, but Andrea said the experience only strengthened her belief in what the project represents.
“He really showed me that if it’s not with him, it could still happen,” she said. “It reassured me that I have to keep on going because I’m so close.”
Earlier this year, Andrea took the concept even further when she invited a stranger to fly to Paris with her for Valentine’s Day after meeting him on campus.
“We sat down for five minutes, put our passport details in and then met at the airport the next morning,” she said.
While the trip did not lead to romance, Andrea said it reflected exactly what Streetdates is about, openness, spontaneity and genuine connection.
The project has also unexpectedly led to friendships.
“Some of my best friends came from Streetdates,” she said. “People think strangers are really strangers, but everybody is connected somehow.”
Now preparing to graduate, Andrea hopes to take Streetdates internationally this summer while continuing to create spaces where young people can reconnect away from screens.
“I have big plans for this generation,” she said. “I think people are longing for something more real.”
But despite the growing audience and ambitious plans, Andrea insists the goal of Streetdates has never changed. One day, she hopes it ends.
Behind every awkward approach, every filmed rejection and every conversation with a stranger is still the same belief that inspired the project in the first place: that one real conversation could still change your life.
“When I find someone,” she said, “I’m ready to quit Streetdates because that’s why I started the project.”