I soon learned that people join Raya to prove they can join Raya - myself included

It has been ten years since dating app Raya launched. For those of you who aren’t well-versed in niche showbiz gossip, it’s famously exclusive – and allegedly it’s harder to be accepted on Raya than to secure a place at Oxbridge. This makes it the dating app of choice for celebrities looking to find love away from prying eyes. It is how Lily Allen and David Harbour met (it’s also, apparently, how they split – after Harbour was caught using Raya). Rumoured users include Andrew Garfield, Jude Bellingham and Paul Mescal. And for two months last year, me.

I was not expecting – or wanting – to start dating celebrities. Instead, I was burnt out by conventional dating apps, and emotionally drained by yet another Hinge situationship. I had made a decision to stop dating to meet someone, and instead date for fun – and to collect juicy stories to tell my friends over a glass of wine.

Whenever I told people I had Raya, they would always have lots of questions. So, here I am to answer them – and tell you why it is not worth the hype or the cost.

The most common question was: how do you get onto Raya in the first place? What distinguishes Raya from other apps is that you have the option to get referrals from anyone you know who already is a member. It is rumoured that you need two, but this has never been officially confirmed. I did have two referrals as coincidentally a couple of hours after I applied, I met an acquaintance at a party who had Raya.