Lili Mallatratt never expected to find love in a Facebook group dedicated to celebrating the mundane. But in late 2023, she joined the Dull Men's Club—now called Banana for Scale—and her life changed forever.
The Algorithm That Brought Them Together
The group, which celebrates ordinary things like rock collections and crumpet photos, appealed to Lili's dry sense of humor. 'I love that mindset. You don't have to do something extraordinary,' she says. After joining, she was added to a group chat where she met Luke, a British man living in the UK. 'Luke spoke about how he irons his T-shirts, keeps a strict budget spreadsheet and has a routine to his evening meals. We bonded over the “dullness” of simplicity.'
From Video Calls to a Hospital Visit
They spent five to six hours on video calls daily. After two months, Luke suggested flying to the US. Lili, cautious, had a friend run a background check. 'Not only does he have a completely clean record, he’s boring. He doesn’t even have a speeding ticket,' the friend reported. Days before his flight, Lili had emergency surgery. Instead of canceling, Luke came straight to the hospital, staying for five days on a futon. 'I was amazed by how supportive he was. He never left my side,' she recalls.
A Proposal and a Banana-Measured Distance
After that first visit, Lili knew she would marry him. Three months later, on his third visit, they got engaged. They married in September 2024 in a cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains. In their vows, they thanked the Facebook algorithm. When they shared their story on the group, a member calculated the distance between their homes in bananas: 38 million.
Living Dull Together
Luke moved into Lili's home with her children. 'We’re not high-maintenance people. We don’t have to spend a lot of money to be content. We just exist together – no fuss, no stress, no anxiety,' Lili says. 'It’s just nice being dull together.'
