

When I asked him about this, he said, “I’m very narcissistic.
#RESET TINDER SWIPES OFFLINE#
I had heard from women on Twitter, and from one of my offline friends, that Alex was rude in their DMs after they matched on Tinder.

Though his Tinder bio says that he lives in New York, his apartment is actually in Jersey City-which explains the kitchen-and his neighbor is the photographer behind every shot. Hammerli shows up in Tinder swipers’ feeds as often as he does because he deletes the app and reinstalls it every two weeks or so (except during the holidays, because tourists are “awful to hook up with”). “A lot of girls are like, ‘I swiped for the kitchen.’ Some are like, ‘When can I come over and be put on that counter?’” He posted them on Tinder for the first time in early 2017, mostly because those were the photos he had of himself. He liked the idea, and started taking photos and posting them on Instagram, as a way to preserve his “amazing wardrobe” for posterity. In 2014, Hammerli told me, he saw a man on Tumblr posing in a penthouse that overlooked Central Park-over and over, the same pose, changing only his clothes. It was through Facebook Messenger, after a member of a Facebook group run by The Ringer sent me a screenshot of Hammerli bragging that his Tinder profile was going to end up on a billboard in Times Square. When I finally spoke with Alex Hammerli, 27, it was not on Tinder. (Moore matched with him, but when she tried to ask him about his kitchen, he gave only terse responses, so the show had to move on.) Moore told me the show is funny because using dating apps is “lonely and confusing,” but using them together is a bonding experience. They all recognized the countertops and, of course, the pose. During last month’s show, Alex’s profile came up, and at least a dozen people said they’d seen him before. Moore hosts a monthly interactive stage show called Tinder Live, during which an audience helps her find dates by voting on who she swipes right on. In January, Alex’s Tinder fame moved off-platform, thanks to the New York–based comedian Lane Moore. Like mayors and famous bodega cats, they are both hyper-local and larger than life. Like the internet, they are confounding and scary and a little bit romantic. These are real people, gaming the system, becoming-whether they know it or not-key figures in the mythology of their cities’ digital culture. On Reddit, men often complain about the bot accounts on Tinder that feature super-beautiful women and turn out to be “follower scams” or ads for adult webcam services. Similar mythological figures have popped up in local dating-app ecosystems nationwide, respawning each time they’re swiped away. ” And apparently, Alex is not an isolated case. One woman replied, “I live in BOSTON and have still seen this man on visits to. When I asked on Twitter whether others had seen him, dozens said yes. The most recent time I saw him, I studied his profile for several minutes and jumped when I noticed one sign of life: a cookie jar shaped like a French bulldog appearing and then disappearing from behind Alex’s right elbow. But I still find Alex on Tinder at least once a month. I have always swiped left (for “no”) on his profile-no offense, Alex-which should presumably inform Tinder’s algorithm that I would not like to see him again.

He is Alex, he is 27, he is in his kitchen, he is in a nice shirt. Face and body frozen, he swaps clothes like a paper doll. Rose blazer, navy V-neck, double-breasted parka. Only his outfits change: blue suit, black suit, red flannel. His pose is identical the angle of the photo is identical the coif of his hair is identical. Most days, his Tinder profile has six or seven photos, and in every single one, he reclines against the same immaculate kitchen counter with one leg crossed lightly over the other.
#RESET TINDER SWIPES PLUS#
Absolutely identical to that of the Mona Lisa, plus horn-rimmed glasses. I have seen his face dozens of times, always with the same expression-stoic, content, smirking. He lives in or has access to a home with an enormous kitchen and granite countertops.
