The 'He's a Ten' creators are just getting started

And one of them is not feeling Twitter's take on the trend.

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, from Kate Lindsay and Nick Catucci.

He’s a ten, but he takes your TikTok idea without credit. —Kate

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Leah (left), Lucy (middle), and Mary (right) in their TikTok video debuting “He’s a Ten.”

Half of my vacation was spent almost entirely offline in a remote town in the south of France where nobody spoke any English, and yet the “He’s a Ten” (er, “C’est un Dix”?) trend still pierced my consciousness. That’s how much the game, popularized by 23-year-old Californian Leah Woods, her sister Mary, and friend Lucy, has totally consumed pop culture. The three women posted their first TikTok playing the game—in which players determine how potential merits or flaws would affect the numerical value of a suitor—at the end of May, in what, as far as I can tell, is the first example of the trend. In the month or so since, it’s absolutely exploded.

“He’s a nine, but he has really long fingernails,” Leah says in the video that started it all, which has over a million and a half views.  

“Two!” Lucy immediately cries. 

@leahhwoodssthe end proved our point #socal #fyp #findhim #whosisthismans @lucyyyyylouuuu @maryland_w

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The options are limitless. He’s a four but he owns a boat. He’s an eight but he wears crocs. She’s a ten but her siren song lures men to their death. That kind of thing.  

The content itself didn't really matter. Even small creators, Leah noticed, would end up getting millions of views on their videos whenever they participated in the trend. The #hesa10 and #shesa10 hashtags on TikTok have almost 200 million views combined, and the game has spawned countless sounds and spinoffs.

“After two weeks, it got absolutely so big that nobody knew who started it,” Leah tells me over Zoom. But Leah, Mary, and Lucy are hopeful they can claim some kind of ownership—and monetization—now that the game has ended up not just all over all social media, but is being used by brands like Netflix. 

@netflix10 --> 001 #strangerthings4 #strangerthings

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The trio is working on an official website that should launch any day now, as well as a card game. The challenge is rolling out something that can capture the excitement around the game before the shine wears off, and establish Leah, Mary, and Lucy as the official creators before it becomes too ubiquitous. Leah and I spoke about why this simple game blew up, the frustrations that come with watching your idea become a worldwide trend, and what the next iteration of “He’s a Ten” will look like.