A Gen X Mom Asked Her Gen Z Daughter To Rate '90s Teen Heartthrobs & She Didn't Hold Back
The internet couldn't believe her harsh ratings.
I vividly remember walking to the local drug store and grabbing every new copy of Teen Beat and Teen Bop. I’d head home and immediately tear through the magazines with gusto, looking for the best photos of the cutest heartthrobs to hang on my walls.
From Shane West to *NSYNC to Joshua Jackson, my walls were absolutely covered with ‘90s and ‘00s heartthrobs. There was definitely a certain type of guy who was considered a heartthrob back in those days that just doesn’t hit the same for the younger generations who swoon over Harry Styles and Timothée Chalamet.
One mom wanted to see what her Gen Z daughter would rate the heartthrobs of the ‘90s and ‘00s on a scale of 1 to 10, and her answers shocked many.
“All right, these are all teen heartthrobs that I had in the 90s. First one, ready?” Caitlin asks her daughter before showing a picture of Home Improvement star, Zachery Ty Bryan. “Got a rate, zero to ten.”
She gives him a measly three.
Moving on, Caitlin presents a picture of the one and only James Van Der Beek from Dawson’s Creek fame.
“It's so bad,” the daughter says while giggling. “ It's like, I don't even know.”
Caitlin offers up a photo of the cutest man alive (IMHO) Joshua Jackson to which her daughter audibly gasps in horror.
“That's two. The last one was a four, that one's so bad. He's so ugly,” she says.
Last up is Mark-Paul Gosselaar, who played the main protagonist and cutie-pie Zack Morris on the classic ‘90s sitcom, Saved By The Bell.
“Why is his smile like, it looks like he's not even happy. It looks like he's fake smiling,” she says. “And then like his hair, like why is that a sleek back?” she asks before giving him a 2.5/10.
Yes, that’s right. None of these men even got to a 5/10 on her scale.
Needless to say, Caitlin’s comment section was flooded with thousands of comments from people absolutely appalled at her harsh ratings.
“2.5 for Zack Morris is criminal lol,” one TikTok user said.
“Rating Joshua Jackson that low is criminal,” another wrote.
Caitlin jokingly replied, “I almost grounded her after that one. 😂”
Another said, “Girl how dare you disrespect Pacey! The boy is cutie to this day!”
However, there were some who agreed with her low ratings, remarking that they never got the hype back in the day.
“I’m legit agreeing with her 😂 these boys weren’t cute,” one user wrote.
Another said, “Soo unpopular opinion but I have to side with your daughter on all these except Zach Morris…”
In a follow-up video, Caitlin and her daughter did another round of Rate This ‘90s Heartthrob where the Gen Z girl was introduced to more cuties. You can probably guess how it went.
A Walk To Remember star, Shane West, received a 3/10. (Criminal!) Freddie Prince Jr. also scored a 3/10. Joseph Gordon Levitt shocked everyone by getting a “4 or a 5.” Rounding out the group with the top spot, Princess Diaries and Brink star, Erik Von Detton was rated a 5.5 out of 10.
“Who are her crushes? Let’s rate them! 😂😂,” one user wrote.
“Coming soon…😁” Caitlin replied.
Oh, we are here for this!
