WHEN Matt Robertson and Khani Le agreed to fly off to Costa Rica on a virtually empty flight for their third date, they had no idea that their whole lives were about to change.
The New Yorkers who were still getting to know each other after meeting on the dating app Hinge, ended up being stuck in Costa Rica for three months due to the global Covid lockdowns and soon became viral internet sensations.
But it wasn’t all rosy for the pair – the difficulty of being stranded in a foreign country with a complete stranger and the added pressure of the world knowing about their romance began to take a drastic toll.
Their story has now been told in Longest Third Date, a new Netflix documentary that details the highs and lows of their adventure in the Central American country.
In the documentary, viewers see reels of footage taken by Matt, an influencer, who once described his life as being like a movie.
Initially, it was all fun for the pair – but after Matt posted the clips about their escapades, they soon became inundated with requests to be interviewed by global publications.
Their videos received hundreds and thousands of views, likes, and comments, with many captivated by their unique experience.
While he basked in their newfound fame, Khani wasn’t too pleased about the details of her private life being so out in the open.
In the film, she says: “[In] one of the earlier interviews we did, the interviewer asked us so are you girlfriend and boyfriend?
“Matt was just like ‘Yeah we are’ and in my head, I was like ‘Oh, we are?’ Matt was walking around like he didn’t even say it and I honestly didn’t love having my private life out there for all to see.
“I hated doing these interviews. I didn’t love this side of Matt. I started to wonder what his motives were with all of this.
“So I started thinking ‘What if we get back, and we end up going our separate ways and it was over?'”
Huge slip
Khani, who was only starting to open up to the possibility of dating again after a string of bad relationships started, began to put her guards back up again and shut down.
She says: “A lot of the relationships I’ve been in, it just really left a bad taste in my mouth. If I made more money than them, if I had more ambition than them, If I had more friends than them, It would always make the guy insecure and they would lash out about it.
“I always had to hide and was never able to be myself. That just drained a lot. I wasn’t in a rush to get into a relationship.”
Their popularity online also meant that brand publicist Khani, who was working from home throughout their stay, had to come clean with her bosses about where she really was.
She recalls: “I knew it would have gotten back to my work so I set up a call with my boss. [I said] ‘I just want to let you know, something’s coming out about where I’ve really been the past few months. I’ve actually been in Costa Rica with a guy.’
“They ended up thinking it was super funny, thank God.”
Later, Matt realised that he had made a huge slip by posting the interviews and says: “After I self-declared that we were boyfriend and girlfriend, I know that that created a lot of ‘what’s going on’ in her head.
“It was almost a reset of now the guard is back up because I did something stupid.”
Pregnancy scare
While stranded in Costa Rica, the bond between the couple grew with drinks on the beach, dinner on a disused boat, and activities to keep them occupied throughout the day.
Matt says: “It was a great opportunity to get to know Khani and how amazing she is. Genuine, thoughtful, I mean the total package.”
He also adds that they ended up having “a lot of great sex” – a sentiment echoed by Khani.
“There were definitely sparks. When you’re stuck together there’s nothing else to do but drink and f***,” she says.
But 45 days after being away from home, their passion soon became short-lived when Khani’s period was delayed, sparking a fear that she may have fallen pregnant after her birth control pills ran out.
Although she found another brand to buy in Costa Rica, there had been reports that fake versions of the medicine had saturated the markets.
Describing how she felt about the unexpected possibility of becoming a mum, she recalls: “La Fortuna – that’s the week that I was supposed to get my period in birth control – it wasn’t coming and I had been pretty regular for the past 14/15 years at that point.
“I always had it on Tuesday and it was like ‘Oh it’s Tuesday and it’s not here’. A couple of days go by and I’m hoping I didn’t get one of the janky birth control packets. It was a really stressful situation. I was trying to rationalise why it didn’t come when it usually did.
“I don’t think I wanted to stress about it too much until I knew for sure but we both didn’t want children.”
She adds: “I wasn’t trying to think too much into it but in the back of my mind I was thinking well I have to get back home. We can’t have a kid in another country.”
Covid love story
The pair met shortly before the world learned about how deadly Covid could be and spent their first date in an Indian restaurant and their second at kick axing.
When Matt suggested the idea of going away to Costa Rica for their third date, Khani was initially apprehensive but decided to take him up on the offer after speaking to her mum and best friend.
They had no idea, however, that the world was on the brink of a global pandemic that would shut down travel across the globe.
Matt explains: “It’s at the early stages of what will become coronavirus and I was kind of dismissive of this pandemic really being anything to worry about. You only live once. What’s the worst that could happen?”
Problems came on day four of their arrival – they received news that their flight had been cancelled with no word on when they would be able to fly back home.
Although they decided to make the most of being in Costa Rica by staying in various luxurious Airbnbs, they were also concerned about the well-being of their family back in New York, which had become one of the most impacted cities.
Khani’s mum worked in a Covid unit at a hospital while Matt’s grandfather was in a care home that had just recorded its first case of the virus.
After being each other’s support system, their chemistry grew with each passing day.
Matt says: “The fact that we are both going with the flow and we were chilled, it just kind of worked. We didn’t know what we were doing but we kind of adapted.
“Over these several weeks, I’m going from this is just a vacation to I’m starting to fall for this girl and trying to fight that feeling.”
They even introduced each other to friends back home via Zoom calls and got matching tattoos that translated to “Your Life.”
Longest Third Date is available on Netflix from today