A lot of people want to be matched up with Martha Stewart.
Since posting her official dating profile last week on Match.com, the domestic diva received more than 20,000 views and 1,000 messages expressing interest.
The 71-year-old media mogul ultimately narrowed down her list of potential matches to five. She announced Monday on TODAY that “there are two that I could have coffee with," and planned to respond electronically to those individuals later in the day.
Stewart agreed on TODAY last week to join the online dating world, after revealing she needed help finding a companion. She formally joined Match.com on Tuesday.
The response to her profile was overwhelming – more than 2,000 views and hundreds of messages on the first day.
“There’s no question that Martha is one of the most popular members ever to join Match,” said the company’s chief executive, Sam Yagan, who called the response “definitely atypical.”
Stewart said it was exhausting to read through the inquiries she received.
“It’s very time-consuming. I have gardens to plant and horses to ride and all kind of stuff to do,” she told TODAY’s Matt Lauer, who helped her weed through her messages.
The process proved eye-opening for Stewart, who received a lot of inquiries from younger men.
“Yeah, but I wonder why. Do they want money?” she said, although she admitted it wasn’t a concern. “I’m not at all nervous about that, because I don’t have to answer them.”
Through the process, Stewart revealed she is looking for someone with similar political views and who has a college degree or two. A "pleasant" appearance is good, and a past marriage is not a requisite.
“There’s a lot of men who are very nice who have never been married,” she told Lauer.
“How do you feel about PDA?” Lauer asked her, after reading one applicant's boast that he was not afraid of public displays of affection.
“I like that,” she said.
Stewart said she’s glad her venture into online dating has increased interest in online dating, and for Match.com in particular.
“I think that it really is encouraging people to alter their lives a little bit,” she said.