What's The Deal With Situationships? Love 972's Breakfast Quartet Debate Over The Dating Trend

In their first dialect video podcast, LOVE 972’s The Breakfast Quartet — Mark Lee, 57, Marcus Chin, 73, Dennis Chew, 52, and Chen Biyu, 58 — discussed the topic of situationships.

And not all of the jocks could agree with the concept of undefined, non-committal romantic or sexual relationships, a relationship dynamic that, well, most likely was not that common during their dating era. 

As Mark puts it, people in situationships are “just trying things out”.

When he learned that some situationships involve sexual relationships, Mark exclaimed: “That’s scary, you guys are too casual, and I’m already quite a liberal person.”

“Why are they so open, don’t their parents know about it?” asked Biyu. Dennis replies that parents these days are aware, but “can’t do anything about it”.

Mark also believes that regardless of gender, they are “at a disadvantage” if they agree to a situationship.

Marcus then asked: “Is it right to say that when two parties are not ‘confirmed’ and they are not in love with each other, whatever they do with each other, they can do it with others too?”

Dennis immediately responded with a firm “yes”.

It prompted immediate cries of “cannot” from Mark and Biyu.

Biyu added: “In the past it used to be about asking the other party if they want to be your girlfriend or boyfriend first, then you go steady, and then you start holding hands. These days, the sequence is reversed.”

The conversation then took a comical turn when Mark jokingly says he should call his daughter, who turns 18 this year, to ask if she has “confirmed” things with the guy she’s seeing.

On how he approaches the topic of relationships with her, he shared: “I told her holding hands and kissing is okay, but everything else is not. If she wants to bring her boyfriend home, she has to keep the door open, and she’s not allowed to stay over at her boyfriend’s home either.”

Biyu’s rejection of situationships isn’t limited to young people, saying she wouldn’t accept such a dynamic even at her age — not even if the other party were her idol... like Ayden Sng or Andy Lau.

“I think there needs to be commitment and promise,” she added.

Mark offered an analogy: “Let’s say you see an item you like and you want to buy it, you have to pay before it’s yours. You can’t tell the seller the piece of clothing is nice and you want to try wearing it first.”

Dennis then confessed that he can accept situationships.

“I feel that the important thing is whether the individual is happy, and whether both parties are on the same page. If they click, then they make things official, right?” he said. 

Biyu added that it’s fine as long as both parties share the same non-committal mindset and won’t be hurt if one person ends up falling harder than the other — though she believes the risk of that happening is high.

“Young people in relationships understand the idea behind it,” Dennis added.

While Marcus isn’t entirely convinced by the concept, he said: “The reason I accept it is because I feel that young people make their own choices, and it’s their own issue [to deal with]. It’s a new generation, and it isn’t up to us to say whether it’s right or wrong.”

“It’s not wrong, but it’s best they don’t do it,” Mark chimed in.

What’s your stance on situationships?

You can watch the full podcast episode below.