If you want to learn how to flirt, you need to watch this video of Andrew Garfield and Amelia Dimoldenberg

Never has the chemistry between two people pretending to date been so palpable, writes a swooning Olivia Petter – it is a masterclass in seduction

If you want to know how to seduce someone, forget dating gurus. Leave your psychologists, experts and coaches at the door. Because they know nothing compared to a look at Andrew Garfield and Amelia Dimoldenberg, whose now-viral Chicken Shop Date episode was one of the most highly anticipated in the popular YouTube series’ history.

There’s a reason the internet’s golden non-couple has had us all in a digital chokehold ever since they first graced our screens on the red carpet together in 2022. And it’s not because we’re all secretly rooting for them to actually be together.

Frankly, whether they even have a private relationship, platonic or otherwise, is completely irrelevant (not to mention, none of our business). It’s purely about the power of their flirting. Or, as the cool kids might say, their vibe. And what a vibe it is.

For those not in the know, some useful background: Garfield and Dimoldenberg first met on-screen at the GQ Men of the Year Awards in 2022, where the 30-year-old YouTube star was conducting red carpet interviews. “I’ve been trying to get a date with you for a while,” she deadpanned to the Academy Award nominee, who admitted to being a fan of hers.

What followed was a giggly and giddy conversation between two dangerously charming people who know exactly what they’re doing when it comes to the delicate art we call flirting. “You look hot,” she later said of Garfield’s GQ cover after teasing him for looking as if he’s smelling his own armpit in the photograph. “That’s very sweet. Do you have an armpit thing?” he asked after, following it up with a compliment on Dimoldenberg’s outfit.

The clip went viral, spawning an instant cult of fans desperate to see more of the duo. They got their wish just a few months later, as Dimoldenberg interviewed Garfield on the red carpet at the 2023 Golden Globes.

"We must stop meeting like this," she teased the actor, who replied that he "only ever [wanted] to see [her]” within the context of a red carpet interview. He added that he wasn’t sure the pair "should explore this" because he was "scared of what it could turn into". The interaction concluded with Garfield signing a "best friend’s certificate" handed to him by Dimoldenberg.

As a result of these two conversations, Chicken Shop Date fans have been desperate for Garfield to appear on the show in which Dimoldenberg famously flirts with celebrities in her trademark acerbic manner. Finally, they got their wish.

The episode was distinctly different from other Chicken Shop Dates, namely because the pair mostly spoke about the prospect of actually dating each other outside of the format. God, it was good telly. Or, content, sorry. Frankly, who cares?

There were direct assertions (”I don’t like games, Amelia”), romantic references (“we’ve had two meet cutes”) and even a game of snog, marry, avoid. The contenders? Fellow Spiderman alumnae Tom Holland and Tobey McGuire – and Dimoldenberg herself, of course, whom Garfield politely avoided: “This is flirting, Amelia!”

The reason why all this is gold star seduction? Firstly there’s the tone. Neither Garfield nor Dimoldenberg take themselves too seriously as public figures; there’s a distinct lack of snobbery with both of them that makes the way they converse highly relatable and engaging to watch. Both are self-deprecating, self-aware and deliciously sarcastic.

Secondly there’s the power dynamic – or (more to the point) lack thereof. Traditionally, between heterosexual couples, the power dynamic is almost always in favour of the man because, well: patriarchy.

But for good flirting to take place, the power dynamic needs to be mercurial, a solid, ricocheting thing that bounces between both parties in a single conversation. For a few seconds, it’s Dimoldenberg in charge. Then it’s Garfield. Then it’s back to Dimoldengberg. And so on. Think of it as a game of intellectual and sexual tennis.

Thirdly, there’s the fact that this is something we’re starved of, particularly among celebrities. Part of what makes Dimoldenberg’s series such a hit is its authenticity. Gone are the insipid pretences and rituals that infect the usual press junkets.

This is genuine, human stuff, packed with intimacy, humour, and connection. Yes, I’m aware that a show is still a show, and I suspect a lot of it is carefully scripted and produced. But it comes across as honest, good old fashioned flirting, which we could all do with a lot more of – both on-screen and off.