Shocking way Aussie bloke found out his ‘friend with benefits’ was a family member after they met on a dating app

By BRETT LACKEY FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA

Published: 06:14 GMT, 12 February 2025 | Updated: 06:16 GMT, 12 February 2025

An Aussie bloke has revealed a former flame he met through an online dating app turned out to be his long-lost cousin.

Hunter Smith said he met the man on Tinder and later received an ominous message after the relationship ended saying they ‘needed to talk’.

Mr Smith said his mind immediately raced with all the possible scenarios.

‘Did he need money? Somewhere to stay? Was he riddled with disease,’ he wrote in a column for Mamamia this month.

He said when the pair eventually spoke, the shocking reality trumped them all.

‘It turns out our grandfathers were related but estranged and there’s no way we could have known,’ he said.

‘We’re cousins… Distant cousins, I promise, but cousins nonetheless.’

Mr Smith, a 2004 Pakenham Youth of the Year recipient, said his ex-fling had made the sobering discovery by going down an Ancestry.com ‘rabbit hole’. 

Hunter Smith (pictured) revealed his his ex-fling had made the sobering discovery by going down an Ancestry.com ‘rabbit hole’ after they had dated

Mr Smith said the pair met through Tinder but there was ‘no way they could have known’

Mr Smith derided the trend that has sprung up in recent years for curious Australians to delve into their family tree. 

‘They’ll latch onto any connection with Australian history. If they can use Ancestry to prove they descended from someone aboard the First Fleet then they will become an Ancestry A-lister,’ he wrote. 

‘Sadly, most will have to settle for something less grand. 

‘Your aunty knew Harold Holt? Your grandfather worked the Snowy Hydro? Your cousin built the big banana? Big Whoop. 

‘We’re now so engrossed by family trees that we have entire television shows dedicated to the average histories of earnest celebrities. 

‘Want to watch a Wiggle discover their grandmother was the first woman to sell gelatin in Geraldton? Wake up Jeff, you’ve bored yourself to sleep.’

He said this trend has gone even further with companies offering DNA testing to tell a person their genetic makeup.

‘People everywhere are self-swabbing and sending their data to corporate labs to find out their geographical origin,’ he wrote.

Mr Smith (pictured) was shocked to find out his former fling was a distant cousin

‘Australians everywhere are learning that they’re not just Australian. They’re special. They’re four per cent French or Dutch or Samoan or Irish and they’ll make this tiny exoticism the new cornerstone of their personality.’

Mr Smith said he longed for the days when when finding out such exciting, painful or often inane information happened naturally, through talking to family members or looking through old boxes of belongings.

Or, in the case of an unfortunate Tinder tryst with a distant relative, maybe not finding out at all. 

Hunter Smith is a comedian and writer for The Project based in Melbourne. His show Bushranger will debut Melbourne International Comedy Festival in March.

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Shocking way Aussie bloke found out his ‘friend with benefits’ was a family member after they met on a dating app

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