If you haven’t heard the name Garrett Graham by now, you must not have a married millennial mother in your life. He’s handsome, has fantastic hair, and plays ice hockey. His only flaw is that he doesn’t exist. Deep sigh. But it hasn’t stopped a cult-like phenomenon of women and men, surprisingly many of whom are happily married, from thirsting after him.
He’s the main character in Amazon Prime’s hit new TV series, Off Campus, portrayed by Belmont Cameli. The plot line follows a fake-dating agreement between the hockey player and love interest Hannah Wells, played by British-American actress Ella Bright. The show has seen such insane success that it has skyrocketed to the streaming platform’s number one series, raking in 36 million views within the first 12 days of hitting the site.
Garrett Graham has women taking to social media, sharing clips of themselves staring at their TV in a trance while holding still on vacuums and mops, stunned into silence mid-clean by the steamy scenes in front of them. He has women turning up to hockey rinks, even in Sydney, in the hopes they’ll find their forever hockey player husband. He’s destabilised marriages and Wi-Fi bandwidths – all without actually existing IRL.
Perhaps it's the show’s ‘90s rom-com vibe, reviving the same feeling millennials had when they first laid eyes on Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You. One woman took to Instagram, writing about how she needed to remind herself she’s a “millennial mum who’s happily married and not a college student in love with a hockey player.” The comment section only leans into the obsession. “Millennial mums for the win,” one person writes. “Literally all of us,” another adds. A third cheekily writes: “Can’t repost. Just know I was here.”
To break the fourth journalistic wall, conversations with my own friends have revolved around this fictional heart-throb. My husband has been suffering through the Garrett Graham pain after I polished off the spicy five-part book series, written by Elle Kennedy, back in 2020. Safe to say, the introduction of this even spicier TV adaptation into my life has revived my interest in the character, and now I have the whole of the internet in my corner.
It’s not even just the very hot sex scenes that have women throwing their bras at their screens. It’s the subtle scenes where the men in the show are respecting women, dealing with emotions in a healthy way, and turning away from toxic masculinity tropes we see all too often in Hollywood. Garrett Graham fits right into the collection of men written by women alongside Mr Darcy and Edward Cullen.
Which could explain why he’s having such an impact. According to Carly Dober, from Enriching Lives Psychology, she believes that women are drawn to the characters in this series because of their deeper qualities. “The characters on the show appear to be quite well-rounded for the most part, emotionally in tune and mature, and for some women in their 30s and 40s it’s something new or something that they would like to experience,” she told news.com.au.
She also believes that the origin story of the characters plays a huge factor in their appeal. “I think often male characters written by men can fall short of what women do actually want in many ways, and cater to the male gaze instead of also thinking about the female gaze,” she explained. “In this instance, it does appear because the characters are created by women that there is much fanfare about their complexity.”
However, the husbands out there doing it tough and battling through some brutal comparisons can breathe a sigh of relief. “I think it’s harmless,” Ms Dober said. “If you are using this as a distraction from your real life and avoid things, then this is a problem. However, if it’s entertainment and something culturally relevant to talk about with friends and colleagues, then keep enjoying!”
Season two of Off Campus has already started production with a release date yet to be revealed … but hopefully not for long.
