‘I’m building a spreadsheet!’ The guy who took out billboards to find a wife has had 1,000 applications
‘It's a bit of a shock when people recognise me on the street, or just come up and say “Oh, how's it going?” I just think: “well, how do you know me?” Oh, okay, because of the billboards”.’
Last week, Muhammad Malik went from unknown guy to famous face overnight. Sick of dating, the 29-year-old entrepreneur set up giant adverts for himself in London and Birmingham. Each one featured a photo of Malik, the tagline ‘Save me from an arranged marriage’ and information about how to get in touch. They were picked up by news channels around the world.
One week later, Malik’s life has been turned upside down, and he laughs as he says: ‘You can’t predict these things, right? Like, how people would react?’ Speaking to Time Out over the phone, the west Londoner sounds cheerful, saying that he’s had loads of applications, contact from old friends and teachers, and even proposals from businesses since he put the billboards up. In fact, he’s already been gifted stuff for his potential future wedding. ‘A company that sells wedding attire for South Asian people has said that when I let them know when the big day is, they’ll sort my swag.’
He talks to us about his parents’ reaction, how he’s organising his DMs and his ideal first date.
How many applications have you had so far?
‘1,000 people through the website but quite a lot more through Instagram, a bit on Twitter, Facebook, and TikTok as well. But yeah, lots of DMs, some cheeky slide-ins...’
What’s your process for sorting through the a