There are a lot of dating apps out there, each with their own speciality: Bumble, Tinder, Christian Mingle...One of the most mysterious is Raya, which went live in 2015. The idea behind Raya is exclusivity: in order to gain admittance, you have to talk about who you already know on the app when you sign up, and then your application is vetted by a secret group of 500 people. One user told Entertainment Tonight that “waiting to be accepted to Raya is like waiting outside in a line at a club.” According to Style, only 8% of applicants are accepted, less than the percentage of people let into Harvard Business School.
With that kind of exclusivity, Raya has gotten a reputation as a dating app for celebrities, with folks like Channing Tatum, John Mayer and Joe Jonas all having been spotted on it. Now, The Daily Mail reports that Alfie Allen, whom Game of Thrones fans will remember as the beleaguered Theon Greyjoy, is on there as well.
Allen is 37 years old and has had a number of relationships over the years, most notably with Allie Teilz, with whom he has a daughter. Allen publicly announced the birth of their child in 2018. They split up sometime afterwards.
The idea of a dating app where everyone is a celebrity (or at least someone who meets the standards of an anonymous set of judgmental gatekeepers) may sound elitist...and it is, by definition. But I imagine it's difficult for a public figure like Allen to get on a normal dating up and go about separating those people hoping for a connection from those who want to go out with Theon Greyjoy for the story, so there's probably a place for it.
After the end of Game of Thrones, Allen has appeared on TV, in movies and on stage, with his role in the 2019 Academy Award-winning film Jojo Rabbit being a highlight. Next up, he'll team up with fellow Game of Thrones alum Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon) for a crime series called Safe Harbor.
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