Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is about more than just love
Plus: Jono Pryor's new sitcom, the kids are taking over Taskmaster UK, and Melanie Lynskey is back in the new season of Yellowjackets.
These best mates are on a mission to find love somewhere – anywhere – in Aotearoa.
“How many people do you think are boning right now?” Kura Forrester asks Brynley Stent as the bright lights of Ōtautahi Christchurch stretch out in front of them. It’s a crisp, dark night, and singletons Bryn and Ku have just survived two intense dating events. They’re on a nationwide search for romance, but somehow, they’ve found themselves alone at the top of the Port Hills, where they’re reflecting on the great mysteries of the universe: life, love and… boning.
It’s the first episode of Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, a new short documentary series from The Spinoff that sees award-winning comedians and friends Brynley Stent and Kura Forrester embark on a cross-country quest to find love. Kura describes herself as “perpetually single” and thinks about finding love every day, while Brynley has been single for three years. She enjoys it, 95% of the time – “then I spend 5% of the time just feeling crushingly lonely.”
These two pals are on a mission to find love somewhere – anywhere – in Aotearoa. They’re keen to push beyond their comfort zones to find a meaningful romantic connection, visiting student parties in Dunedin, pubs in Stewart Island and black tie balls in Canterbury. Friends and whānau will share advice, and they’ll contemplate why they feel it’s so important to be in a relationship, before tackling the dating scene themselves with humour and honesty.
Really, they’re not asking for much. “By the end of this series, I’d like to be married, pregnant, and in love but already hating him,” Kura announces as they set off on their journey. “I want to turn from the frigid friend into the biggest slut everyone knows,” Brynley jokes.
Their first dating event is a Christchurch board game evening called “Roll for Romance”, where they meet 20 other singles to bond over games “picked to spark conversation and laughter”. “Oh, fuck,” groans Kura, but it turns out she’s brilliant at giant Jenga. Later that evening they attend a “meet and mingle” singles cocktail night, where Brynley awkwardly breaks the ice by revealing she once accidentally killed a guinea pig and Kura reveals that meeting strangers is far more terrifying compared to the “bulletproof” feeling of performing onstage.
It’s a reminder that while we might know Kura and Brynley as confident, self-assured performers, they experience exactly the same anxieties and insecurities as the rest of us. There’s a real generosity of spirit here, as Brynley and Kura open up and share their most personal hopes and dreams with the nation. They're vulnerable in ways you might not expect, which gives their search a deeper sense of authenticity. Some of the dating events they attend might be a little zany, but there’s no doubt that Bryn and Ku are there for the right reasons.
And amid the zingy one-liners and cheeky glances to camera, there are the quieter, introspective moments when Kura and Brynley reflect on how society views single women in their 30s and 40s, and what they want their futures to look like. Why is it so hard to find a good partner, they wonder, in between changing bras in a rental van and declaring “sluts don’t feel the cold, Bryn!”
Thank goodness they’re in this together. Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club may be a quest for romantic love, but it’s also a celebration of female friendship. Watching this docuseries is like hanging out with your two best mates as they constantly try to make each other laugh the hardest. The support and solidarity they show each other is beautiful, and their journey is filled with warmth and sincerity. I watched it with a huge smile on my face.
Because no matter how many giant Jenga towers fall in Brynley and Kura’s search for a partner, friendship feels like the ultimate winner. In Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club, the pair don’t feel like strangers we’re meeting for the first time, trying to work out what interests we have in common. They’re just two of our mates, sitting in front of a city, making rooting noises in the front seat of their car.
Bryn & Ku’s Singles Club is made with the support of NZ On Air. New episodes are released every Tuesday.
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Why you should watch: Vince (ThreeNow, Three)
Comedian and radio host Jono Pryor (best known as one half of comedy duo Jono & Ben) is back on the telly, having created, written and starred in Three’s new comedy series Vince. Pryor plays a self-centred TV host whose career crashes and burns after an on-air mishap, and Anna Rawhiti-Connell reckons the sitcom is worth a watch. “Pryor has taken what he’s learned and observed about the brutal and sometimes ridiculous world of working in television and taken it upon himself to gently and lovingly skewer the artifice, ego and superficiality involved. There are plenty of winks and nudges at the state of the industry, its weird characters and the craven interests that sometimes drive decision-making…the call, as they say, is coming from inside the house.” Read Anna’s full review of Vince here.
Why you should watch: Junior Taskmaster (TVNZ+)
There is no other televised competition better suited to a junior edition than Junior Taskmaster. Where the likes of Junior Masterchef and Junior Bake Off find humour and novelty in putting kids in adult situations, the universe of Taskmaster is one already built on child-like play and silliness. Which is all to say, it feels like you don’t lose much in swapping out adult comedian contestants with the most precocious 11-year-old kids in the King’s England. Perhaps even some things are gained? Definitely in the case of adding in our own Rose Matafeo as the formidable Taskmaster, who gives the jagged warmth of Gene Wilder’s Willy Wonka while her assistant Mike Wozniak finds himself mercilessly roasted by the kids. Great fun. / Alex Casey
More pop culture news from The Spinoff:
Shortland Street returned for 2025, but the long-running soap is doing things a little differently this year. Here’s five things you need to know.
If the world’s feeling a bit bleak right now, Alex Casey recommends you watch Sir David Attenborough's mesmerising nature series Mammals.
As his new comedy Vince hits our screens, Jono Pryor talks Jono and Ben mayhem, vintage Telethons and gripping true crime in this week’s My Life in TV.
Alex Casey and Gabi Lardies reviewed their brat experience at last week’s Laneway festival.
Speaking of festivals, Alex Casey also asks why the toilet facilities at big events are so poorly equipped for periods.
We’ve got all the new shows and movies hitting your favourite streaming service this week in our trusty New to Streaming list.
This week’s Friday Poem is ”Real Poet” by Jordan Hamel.
It’s as addictive as ever, but Alex Casey reckons there’s something fishy lurking under this season of Married at First Sight Australia.
A raft of proposed legislation changes to the media and screen industry were announced this week, and we read through it all so you don’t have to.
Join us: The Fold live in Wellington
For the first time ever, The Fold is going live! Join The Spinoff founder and host Duncan Greive on February 20th at Wellington’s Hannah Playhouse for a special live podcast. For one night only Duncan will be joined by journalist Bernard Hickey, host of When the Facts Change, and Lucy Blakiston, CEO and co-founder of Shit You Should Care About, for a candid and challenging conversation about the media in Aotearoa.
Why you should watch: Yellowjackets (Neon)
Season three of the hotly-anticipated Yellowjackets is upping the ante, diving even deeper into the twisted aftermath of an ill-fated plane crash that left its survivors with more than just physical scars. Starring our own Melanie Lynskey alongside new guest stars Hilary Swank and Joel McHale, the trauma of the past refuses to stay buried, manifesting in new horrors that blur the line between reality and madness. The new season of Yellowjackets has been called “gruesome, gripping and blackly comic”, and looks ready to eat your heart out. / Thomas Giblin
Before we pop off…
The trailer for the new movie Marlon Williams: Ngā Ao E Rua – Two Worlds has dropped. The film is an intimate four-year portrait of performer Marlon Williams as he writes and records his first te reo Māori language album Te Whare Tīwekaweka (which will be released in April).
Disney+ announced that they will offer ESPN programming in New Zealand later this year, bringing subscribers more than 10,000 hours of ESPN’s live sports action to the platform.
Dance company Black Grace is celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2025, and are celebrating with an ultimate interactive dance party at the Auckland Town Hall in March – and we’re all invited.
That’s it for Rec Room for this week. If you liked what you read, why not share Rec Room with your friends and whānau.
Watched the first episode of Bryn and Ku, lots of different emotions. Enjoyed