The Top 10 Most Unhinged Things Men Did Online This Year

December is always the prime month for reflecting on the past year’s trials and triumphs. Nothing reminds you that time is fleeting like looking back at what you’ve been through over the past 12 months: the good, the bad, and the ugly. This was the year of celebrity breakups, two Taylor Swift re-recordings, food-themed makeup trends, and so many other viral moments that lived on our FYPs and in our minds rent-free.

You’d be remiss not to acknowledge all of the goofy trends that started online. Some trends were super cute like the “Beckham dance challenge” or delightfully unapologetic like Tube Girl, but of course, there were some, er, strange things that took over the internet in 2023 too.

For some reason, it was the year men on the internet were especially unhinged — or maybe it was just that their weird behavior caught on via the algorithm so everyone became more aware of what was happening on different corners of the internet. From A-listers using their accounts to publicly shoot their shot to normies sharing their bizarre interactions, there’s a lot to unpack from this year. Read on to reminisce (for better or for worse) about the most unhinged things men did online in 2023 — ranked from low-key heartwarming to full-on chaos.

10. Travis Kelce’s Love For Squirles

“Traylor” was the word on everyone’s lips this fall as Ms. Swift entered her WAG era by dating Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce. Leave it to Swifties to unearth every detail about their favorite pop star’s new love interest — and so goes the story of Kelce’s old tweets hitting the X (formerly Twitter) timeline in November. They were hilarious rather than incriminating, including plenty of mentions of fast food chains, nap time (every few hours), and “squirles.” The most unhinged thing about this is that he napped so much. Goals.

9. They Thought About The Roman Empire

TikTok users are always coming up with a new challenge for people to try on their partners and this year, all roads led to Rome. In September, users asked the men in their life how often they thought about the Roman Empire, and turns out... it’s pretty often. Weird, sure, but kind of fascinating, no?

8. Jeremy Allen White’s IG Comments

The Bear’s popularity turned Jeremy Allen White into one of the internet’s bona fide crushes this year. In May, details of his divorce broke, and thus his newly single life started — and he wasn’t shy about it either. By August, he was publicly commenting on a spicy Calvin Klein ad starring Euphoria’s Alexa Demie by typing three simple letters: “Wow.” Wow is right.

7. Cole Sprouse On Call Her Daddy

Alex Cooper secures an impressive slate of guests on her podcast, but none left an impression on the internet this year quite like Cole Sprouse. During the March episode, he spoke about his acting career in depth, but most viewers couldn’t get over the fact that he took long, dramatic drags of his cigarette throughout the interview.

“Cole Sprouse on Call Her Daddy is what happens when a frat boy reads Catcher In The Rye,” one X user pointed out.

6. That Tom Brady Selfie

Speaking of divorced men acting wild on the internet, Tom Brady bared his boxers on the World Wide Web in February. Even weirder, he tagged his former teammates in the photo, asking if he did the whole thirst trap thing “right.” TBH, if you have to ask then maybe not?

5. Tom Sandoval’s Reality TV Gauntlet

Depending on how you look at it, Scandoval was the gift that kept on giving this year. The Vanderpump Rules star’s affair with costar Rachel Leviss came to light in March and the details have continued to pour out ever since.

And while Ariana Madix has cashed in on the scandal with partnerships, a Dancing with the Stars stint, and an upcoming Broadway debut, Tom Sandoval has been doing his own TV projects — including a cringe The Masked Singer appearance and competing in Special Forces. Spoiler alert: He didn’t get to the final task of Special Forces and at one point, had to be carried by JoJo Siwa.

4. George Santos Joins Cameo

Right after being expelled from Congress at the start of December, George Santos took to Cameo to make a quick buck. For $500 you can get a motivational speech, birthday message, or congratulations for coming out as a furry. (The furry video was part of a Jimmy Kimmel-orchestrated prank, but I digress.)

In one video that’s now viral, Santos tells the recipient “There is no such thing as a diva down, OK? It’s only diva up. So please continue to slay and continue to have a great career.” Unhinged is an understatement.

3. Thirsty TikTok Chefs

Food trends are a staple on TikTok, but things got kind of freaky on one specific corner of #FoodTok this year. Thirst traps collided with recipe videos to create a genre that’s best described as “Horny Home Cooks” and, unfortunately, the clips are exactly what you’d imagine. I really have no words, so check out @thedonutdaddy to see what these videos entail. His bio reads “I know what you knead” in case that helps you predict what the content looks like. Sorry for enlightening you.

2. The Husband That Isn’t A Pilot

This one’s a doozy. In a now-deleted Reddit post on the AITA subreddit from February, a husband explains he got mad at his wife for introducing him by his job (restaurant manager) versus his hobby (aviation) to her co-workers. Instead, he wishes she would have called him a pilot, which he believes is his well-earned title because he’s read a lot about planes and plays a flight simulator game. Hey, buddy, You Are The *sshole.

1. The Tabi Swiper

Where were you when you heard about the NYC Tabi Swiper? It was the dating app malpractice heard by fashion girlies all over the world when user @nextlevellexuss shared her experience matching with a guy on Tinder, hooking up with him, and then realizing after he left her apartment that her beloved Margiela Tabis were gone. She eventually saw he blocked her on everything when she caught on, saw his girlfriend (!) post a photo wearing her shoes, and then the internet helped bully him into returning the shoes. What a ride.

Men of the internet, let’s all do better in 2024.