Valentine's Day Readers Poll - WHTB

In 2008, Forbes Magazine compiled a list of the top cities to live for single people in the United States, the criteria being based on things like “coolness”, nightlife, culture, number of singles, etc. Well, our beloved Tampa/St. Petersburg came in 23rd, behind the likes of Chicago, Boston, New York and Atlanta, which happened to be No. 1.

Understandably, I think most would agree.

But to take a seat behind cities such as Charlotte, St. Louis, Columbus, Ohio and of all places Orlando for God’s sake. Give me a break. Steve and Doug Butabi wouldn’t even hang out in Orlando if the Roxbury were there. Was ability to hit on tourists and the number of Jagerbombs ordered also part of the equation? Not to mention the Bay area is looking over Philadelphia’s shoulder, sitting at No. 22. What gives? I’m guessing best coatrooms and number of men who still drive Camaros with mullets is a qualifier too?

Oh no Tampa. You deserve better than “23” because I’ve lived in Miami, been in New York and all those places in between. Some of the most beautiful women I’ve ever seen live in Tampa and men are still men here, meaning our beach shorts are knee length and a scarf is something we use to wipe our hands after we change the oil.

We’re not Miami. You don’t have to pretend like you’re an aspiring model and wait 45 minutes outside a club to get picked. And unlike New York, in Tampa you can take a girl out for dinner and some drinks for under $300. Our beaches aren’t the backdrops for every cheesy movie about drug dealers and our bars don’t come with a 50-50 risk of being mugged outside.

Although it’s en vogue to complain about Tampa’s single scene, when you break it down, it really is “WHAT’S HOT”. So, I figured for this Valentine’s Day issue it might be nice to have our own little poll and dissect exactly what the single guy and gal out there looking for love is all about.

So we took an online questionnaire to our readers as well as Facebook, Myspace and the Internet in general to get some answers. Some of what you’ll read is interesting, like the fact that not one man responded that “breasts” were the body part they were most attracted to. Liars?

Some things may come as a shock, like the fact that the mental part of sex edged out the physical part as being most important to both men and women.

And well, some things are just oddly contradictory, like the woman who said the weirdest place she’d ever had sex was in the back of a cab but then listed religion as the most important aspect of a relationship? Forgive me Father for I have fornicated in the back seat of a public form of transportation.

Anyway, without further adieu, I give you What’s Hot Tampa Bay’s Inaugural Valentine’s Day Reader’s Poll.

(1) What’s the most unusual place you’ve ever had sex?

  1. A shooting range – Eliza, 31
  2. The Westcott Fountain at FSU – Sean, 40
  3. The trunk of a car – Nicole, 31
  4. The 50th floor of the (all glass) Petroleum Club in Oklahoma City – Scott, 31
  5. The sky buckets at Disney World – Lindsay, 24
  6. An airplane – Mike, 30whtb

(2) What’s the most romantic location in Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg?

  1. The Tampa Theatre
  2. Fort DeSoto Beach
  3. Malio’s
  4. Bern’s Dessert Room
  5. Inside the University of Tampa minarets at night
  6. That’s Amore (Harbour Island)

(3) What’s your No. 1 “deal-breaker” in terms of a habit or trait you simply cannot overlook in the opposite sex?

  1. Texting while on a date – Jon, 31
  2. ‘Summerteeth’ (AKA; some (teeth) are here, some are there)– Chris, 23
  3. A Heavy New Jersey Accent – Alan, 37
  4. Smoking Cigarettes – Shana, 39
  5. Drugs – Stephanie, 24
  6. Controlling behavior – Lindsey, 23

(4) What body part attracts you most to the opposite sex?

Women

  1. Abs/stomach - 38%
  2. Chest                -  21%
  3. Eyes                  - 13%
  4. Smile                 - 12 %
  5. Shoulders         - 9%
  6. Hands                - 7%

Men

  1. Butt – 60 %
  2. Legs – 17%
  3. Eyes -  10%
  4. Smile- 8%
  5. Stomach- 4%
  6. Small of the back – 1%

(5) What is more important, the mental or physical side of sex?

Women                                                         Men
75%-Mental                                       60% - Mental
25%- Physical                                40% - Physical

 

(6) Where is the best place to meet somebody?

  1. Church – Josh, 27
  2. The gym – Dayana, 30
  3. Unexpectedly – Nicole, 31
  4. A coffee shop – Al, 38
  5. In class – Jamie, 22
  6. The mall – Steven, 27

(7) What’s the hottest singles spot in the Bay area?

  1. Mangroves (So. Tampa)
  2. Dallas Bull (Brandon)
  3. Howard Avenue (So. Tampa)
  4. Lifestyles gym (Hyde Park)
  5. Ceviche (St. Pete)
  6. Publix (Dale Mabry) GreenWise (So. Tampa)

(8) Worst pick-up line you’ve ever heard.

  1. “Pssst..” – Stephanie, 24
  2. “I may not be Fred Flintstone, but I can make your bed rock” – Nicole, 31
  3. “Here’s my card. Call me.” – Jada, 27
  4. “Is that a mirror in your pocket because I can see myself in your pants” – Lynn, 25
  5. “Your mom must’ve drank a lot of milk because it did your body good” – Ami, 29
  6. “Do you work out?” – most popular answer

whats hot

(9) Do you believe everybody has a “Soul mate”?
YES – 85%           NO- 10%    UNSURE- 5%

(10) Name a couple, real of fictitious, you would like to model your relationship after.

  1. Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa – Gena, 35
  2. The Huxtables – Jon M, - 26
  3. Will Smith and Jada Pinkett – Shannon, 32
  4. Seal and Heidi Klum – Scotty G, 31
  5. Regis and Joy Philbin – Gary, 37
  6. The little old couple from the movie “UP” – Andrea, 25

(11) On a scale from 1 to 10, how would you rate your parents relationship.

0 to 3 – 40%
4 to 6 -  10%
7 to 9 – 20%
10 or above – 30 %

(12)  If you could have sex with any one celebrity, who would it be?

Women

  1. Bradley Cooper - Gena, 35
  2. Matthew McConaughey - Sylvia, 32
  3. Tatum Channing -Jenny, 24
  4. Robert Pattinson - Chelsea, 21
  5. LL Cool J - Kena, 29
  6. Carrot Top - Lindsay V, 24

Men

  1. Kelly Ripa – Brian, 37
  2. Megan Fox – James, 29
  3. Rosario Dawson - Jon M, 26
  4. Vida Guerra – Jeremy, 21
  5. Roselyn Sanchez – Billy, 34
  6. Rhona Mitra – Bryan, 23

(13) What is a great first date?

  1. 1.Theme park – Daryl, 29
  2. 2. Breakfast – Josh, 28
  3. 3. A Lightning game – Ryan, 40
  4. 4. Dinner and a walk – Susan, 28
  5. 5. A concert – Emily, 22
  6. 6. Weekend Festival – Marylin, 26

(14) What was the biggest goof or foul up you committed on a date?

  1. Clogging up the toilet at her parents house before dinner – Brian, 37
  2. Taking her to a club where my ex collected the money at the door – Jason, 31
  3. I was so bored, I told the guy that I desperately needed to go home because I had diarrhea – Diana, 29
  4. Drinking an extra large Coke at the movies on a first date and then accidentally burping in her mouth when I went to kiss her goodnight – Sean, 38
  5. I sharted at a Snoop Dog concert I took her to – Danny, 23
  6. Apparently I went through an entire dinner with he and his friends only to discover I had toilet paper hanging from the back of my pants at the end of the evening – Karen, 35

(15) What’s the one thing you look for when you enter the house of a new date for the first time?

  1. Clean bathroom
  2. Photos
  3. Pets
  4. What’s in the fridge
  5. DVD or Book collection

(16) What is the biggest hurdle to overcome in a relationship? (results are in order of popularity)

  1. Age
  2. Religion
  3. Money
  4. Race
  5. Education

(17) What is the one traditional value you would like to see remain in tact when it comes to dating?

  1. The man paying – Jessica, 28
  2. Opening the door for a woman – Heather, 31
  3. It should be Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve – Stephanie, 24
  4. Women waiting to give up the sex – Travis, 30

(18) What tradition would you like to see go away?

  1. The rule of having to wait three days to call after getting a number – Jared, 22
  2. Guys having to initiate the first date – Karen, 27
  3. The “new” tradition of men asking women out via text message – Gena, 35
  4. Always having to put the seat down. Why? – David, 37

(19) What is the key to a good sex life? (most popular answers)

  1. Laughter
  2. Not allowing stress to interfere
  3. Emotional transparency
  4. Willingness to try new things
  5. Flexibility
  6. Unconditional love

(20) What is the perfect age to get married?

For a woman
20 to 25 – 7%
26 to 29 – 30%
30 to 35- 60%
35 to 40- 3%
41 and up – 0%

For a man
20 to 25 – 0%
26 to 29 – 15%
30 to 35- 60%
35 to 40- 25%
41 and up – 0%

(21) What is the most romantic thing anybody has ever done for you?

  1. A guy I was dating made a poster that said “I love you” and held it up at the airport when I came home – Nicole, 31
  2. A couple years ago, I was flying out of Logan Airport on New Year’s Eve. My boyfriend was going to pick me up and we were supposed to go straight to this fancy party. He had booked it months in advance with a bunch of his friends. But Logan was temporarily snowed in and I ended up having to ring in the New Year at the Embassy Suites. Although I had urged him to go, he ended up not going to the party and called me at 11:30 pm and told me to log onto Skype with him for a video call. He also surprised me by calling the Embassy Suites desk and had them send up a bottle of champagne. Anyway, we ended up popping our corks and counting down the final minute until New Year’s together, both alone, in our bedrooms separated by over 1,000 miles – Liana, 28
  3. My girlfriend and I had talked about getting engaged for several months but she knew I was going through a really difficult time financially and couldn’t afford to buy her a ring. Somehow she constructed this symbolic ring out of a grapevine and got down on her knee, placed it on my finger and asked me to marry her. Of course I said yes, although I’m prideful, but on our second anniversary I had saved enough to get her a flawless two-carat diamond. We just celebrated our 8th anniversary in August – Nicholas, 33
  4. I was getting ready for work one morning and my wife was on the computer eating her breakfast. As I was leaving sheYouTube’d KC and the Sunshine Band’s and I heard, “Babe, I love you so and I hot tampawantyou to know, that I’m gonna miss your love, the minute you walk out that door. Please don’t go”. I stopped in my tracks and looked back at her smiling – Joey, 39