A woman decides she wants a new set of dishware for her home but doesn’t want to pay for it. She comes up with a controverisal Hinge date “scheme” at pottery chain Color Me Mine to get her plates for free.
In a video with over 4.1 million views, TikToker and adult film actress Alison Rey (@alisonunhinged) stands in front of Color Me Mine with the first plate in her new collection.
“I’m running a scheme on Hinge where I make my first dates take me to Color Me Mine,” she says. The pottery chain is a popular date spot where prospective couples can paint different dishware. Then, workers fire the plates in the kiln to seal the artwork, which can be picked up later.
She says she told the workers about her scheme so they don’t blow her cover when she comes to the studio with different dates. In a recent update, Rey shares that Color Me Mine’s manager even stores the plates she uses to build her new dishware set separately so they don’t run out of stock for her dates.
Rey holds up her first creation, a small plate with a burgundy mandala pattern painted on the surface.
As she films the viral TikTok, she waits for her second Color Me Mine date to show up. The caption reads, “This feels illegal.”
How many Color Me Mine dates did she go on?
Over the course of a month, Rey says she just hit seven successful Color Me Mine dates. She has collected four plates and two mugs so far throughout the ongoing series of dates.
In a FAQ video about her Hinge scheme, she says her goal is an eight piece set of small and large plates, bowls, and mugs.
“This would mean I would have to go on 32 dates,” she calculates. “This might take a while.”
She shares updates from her dates as she slowly puts together her new dishware collection. In one video, Rey notes that she paints her date’s initials on the bottom of each piece.
Surprising to some viewers, many of her dates find out about her scheme and are completely on board. Rey shares that she is currently in a nonmonogamous relationship. She feels that the dishware scheme is a good way to figure out if her dates are actually OK with her dating other people.
How do viewers feel about her scheme?
Commenters on Rey’s series split on whether the scheme is a brilliant way to get dishware or setting her up for awkward moments later on.
“Your future spouse eating off of the plates you made on past dates,” a viewer remarks.
A second counters, “OH MY GOD, GENIUS. I HAVE NOT BEEN SCHEMING AND SCAMMING TO MY FULL POTENTIAL.”
“You say scheme, I say beautiful industrious woman who knows how to multi-task. Sounds like a win for the guys,” another comments.
“This is why the good men are so iffy about going on dates. and jaded,” a fourth says.
Some viewers pick favorites and vote on who they think Rey should keep seeing.
“Connor might be a keeper, ma’am. And I think he’d take you back to Color Me Mine for your entire collection— just a hunch,” one writes on a video of her date with Connor, one man aware of her scheme.
She shares that she continued to go on three dates with Connor, exciting fans of the series. However, they ultimately parted ways when Connor and his primary partner put a “hold” on dating other people.
Later, some viewers root for a man named Matt. One comments, “Oh… I thought I liked Connor the best but Matt is a vibe and set healthy boundaries for himself…”
Others say they created similar schemes for first dates in order to frequent their favorite places.
“I used to do this with reward points at my favorite sushi restaurant. I’d take all my dates there and make them add my number to the receipt to get points,” one shares. “On nights I didn’t have a date I’d go there because I had a ton of points I could redeem for free sushi.”
A second writes, “I did this with a movie theater and collected the rewards points.”
@alisonunhinged this feels illegal
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The Mary Sue reached out to Alison Rey via email and TikTok direct message, and to Hinge and Color Me Mine via email.
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