The only time I went to a speed dating event was back in 2019 and there was a fee for it, don't remember what it was though. There were only about 10 men and 10 women there so a lot less than I expected, but I think the fee maybe scared a few people away who weren't serious about it.
Out of the 10 women, only 2 were interested in meeting up at a later date and I think I was only interested in just 1 of those 2 women so it was mutual. The problem was, and probably is with a lot of these speed dating events, is that women tend to go in groups so they obviously talk about all the guys there amongst themselves. A friend of mine was gonna go as well, but he backed out at the last minute.
So the 1 woman that was interested in me brought 2 other women with her and neither one of them were interested in me and neither was I, so at the end of the night when they tallied up who was interested in who, the 2 friends probably talked the other girl out of meeting up with me because they probably didn't feel a vibe with me or whatever or were jealous that I wasn't interested in them, so they probably told her to not follow through with contacting me afterwards since I never heard from her again. The one that was interested in me I found to be the most attractive one there, so there you go.
The funny part of the story was not long after the event, I was with my current girlfriend at a bar in the same city where this chick lived which was an hour and a half away from where the event was at, and I ran into her there, and it was quite awkward......for her!! Cuz obviously I found someone else so it was all good. Her loss!!