New York, NY -- (SBWIRE) -- 11/18/2010 -- Shocking new statistics show that one in five dates ends in awkwardness. The good people at online dating company Mate1.com decided they could no longer stand by and let this plague wreck their hard work. They knew the cure for the awkward date may be a long time coming, but were determined to find a way to ease the pain. And so the Mate1.com Check Please! contest was born, offering awkward dating victims a way to share their suffering with the world for a chance at $5,000 in prizes.

But mere prize money was not enough for Mate1.com. They needed an advocate-- someone who truly understood the meaning of the word “awkward.” That someone was Pauly Shore.

“When our team thought of the struggle against awkwardness, we immediately thought of Pauly,” says Elizabeth Wasserman, CEO of Mate1.com.

Pauly Shore, star of Encino Man, Bio Dome and Son in Law, has been making people laugh uncomfortably since Totally Pauly debuted on MTV in 1990. His brand of humor, along with a tendency to gravitate to uncomfortable situations made him a perfect champion for the cause.

Victims of awkward dates anywhere in North America are invited to enter the contest, for a chance to win the choice of $5,000 in cash, a Pauly Approved Vegas Vacation or the indispensible Awkward Date Survival Kit.

How to Enter the Mate1.com Check Please! Contest

Step 1: Film a 1-2 minute video describing your most awkward dating experience or, if you feel really funny, film a reenactment of that awful date.

Step 2: Upload the video to YouTube and title and tag it with “Mate1 Check Please! Contest”

Step 3: Register for the contest at http://checkpleasecontest.com/about/how-to-enter!

Step 4: Get your friends and family to watch the video and spread it through your social channels. The Final 10 most viewed and mentioned videos will make it to the finals where Pauly will be the judge of whose date was the most awkward and you could win one of our awesome grand prizes.

For more information on the Mate1.com Check Please! contest, or to register, please visit http://checkpleasecontest.com

About the Mate1.com Check Please! contest
Every ten seconds, somewhere in the world, a date horrifically turns awkward. Eyes shift downward. Faces get red. People squirm. Then silence. Finally someone exclaims, “Check Please!” In the fall of 2010, the team at the world-renowned dating site Mate1.com decided it was time to do something about this silent buzz killer. To succeed, they knew they needed the help of someone who understood the struggle of awkwardness in a deep and personal way and Pauly Shore answered their call.

Together, Pauly and Mate1.com vowed to help free humanity from the scourge of awkward dates. Like any healing process, Step 1 is admitting that you have a problem.

Step 2 is admitting that problem on video. Step 3 is entering that video in a contest for the whole world to see. So here is your chance. Register today at http://checkpleasecontest.com.

About Mate1.com
Consistently ranked a Top Five online dating destination and with more than 27 million registered members, Mate1.com offers an open, interactive, and safe global dating environment. Mate1.com caters to people seeking serious, as well as casual relationships, with powerful search tools and detailed profiles that enable users to find the right matches. With live 1-on-1 chat, voice recordings, personal photo galleries and a host of other rich features, Mate1.com is a leader in providing a fun, dynamic, and safe multimedia environment for singles of all types. For more information, visit http://www.Mate1.com.