Meme Legend '10 Guy' Is Still Really High... On Life

Know Your Meme

The "10 Guy" meme, featuring a red-faced, sleepy-eyed man symbolizing extreme intoxication, originated from a photo taken in Ibiza, Spain, in 2011 and quickly went viral after being posted on Reddit's r/trees subreddit. For years, Connor, the man behind the meme, kept his identity a secret to avoid the negative impact on his future career. However, in 2021, he revealed himself, sharing how the meme unexpectedly boosted his social life, even helping him meet his girlfriend Lucy. Embracing his internet fame, Connor minted an official NFT and now resides in England with Lucy, where they run a food hall and enjoy a fulfilling life away from the constant online attention. Despite missing some opportunities due to his meme status, Connor is content with how his life has unfolded and views his role in internet culture as a positive experience.  Watch our interview with Connor - https://youtu.be/_bFGfKgsV8I  Check out our new MEME STORE: https://thememestore.com/  Subscribe to our channel to learn more about trending memes, hear interviews from meme personalities and more! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbrPqq29C9Q_TQP7OFFRzcw?sub_confirmation=1

Transcript

00:00The man behind this meme kept his identity a secret for years before coming out. You may

00:04recognize the red-faced, sleepy-eyed man whose photo became a viral meme about a decade ago.

00:09Often used to depict thoughts people have when they're way too high,

00:12this guy's glazed expression and slight grin became synonymous with being utterly out of it.

00:17The image showing him slumped over cycled through several nicknames like

00:20Really High Guy and Stoner Stanley, but eventually the internet settled on calling him Ten Guy.

00:25He kept his identity a secret all the way until 2021. But where is he now,

00:29and what does he look like after over a decade of internet stardom?

00:32We interviewed Conor in 2021, and he told us his tale. After graduating high school,

00:37Conor and his friends traveled to Ibiza, Spain. They stayed in budget accommodations and spent

00:41their days and nights partying. A few days in, and after some pre-game festivities,

00:45a friend snapped the now-famous photo of Conor.

00:48The Ten in Ten Guy isn't just a random number — it originates from a chart popular among

00:52members of the subreddit r slash trees, a community for cannabis enthusiasts who refer

00:57to themselves as Ents. The chart is a scale from 1 to 10 used to describe one's level of

01:01intoxication, with 10 being the highest. A few months after his trip to Spain,

01:05Conor saw the photo on Facebook and thought it was particularly amusing,

01:08so he sent it to his friend and neighbor Dave, also known on Reddit as u slash Random Dave.

01:13Unbeknownst to Conor, Dave uploaded the photo to r slash trees in November 2011,

01:18with the caption,

01:18Being a ten is not always pretty.

01:20The internet quickly took notice. Another Redditor added the impact font text,

01:24and thus created the first meme, which goes,

01:26Text the person next to them, I want hopsital.

01:29The misspelling of hospital struck a chord, and the meme began to spread like wildfire

01:33across the web. Overnight, Conor became the face of being overwhelmingly high.

01:37He initially stayed quiet because he didn't want a cannabis-related meme to affect his future

01:41career. Best of all, he actually ended up meeting his girlfriend because his friends bragged about

01:45him being the meme guy to her friends, prompting her to ask him for a photo.

01:49Conor found most of the memes amusing, especially the amount of people who were convinced that he

01:53was Quentin Tarantino. He came out of hiding to mint an official NFT after being convinced by the

01:58creator of Nyan Cat, and now seems pretty cool about his meme fame. He saw it as an opportunity

02:03to finally acknowledge his role in internet culture, and perhaps benefit from it.

02:07Today, Conor lives in England with his girlfriend, Lucy. They've built a life

02:10together, running a food hall and enjoying life away from the internet's gaze. While

02:14he might have missed out on some opportunities, he's happy with how his life has unfolded.

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