In 2024 the world was promised a rat boy summer by the media. This was supposed to be a glorious season of celebration for everyone's favourite rat boys, or 'hot rodent boyfriends': young attractive male celebrities with sharp features and bags of personality. Celebs like Jeremy Allen White and Josh O'Connor were (and still are) box-office gold, and high-profile rat boy films like Challengers were controlling the discourse.

Alas, rat boy summer was soon forgotten by our fickle culture. In this episode, we mourn this sad missed opportunity, exploring exactly what makes someone a 'rat boy', and how this fits into ideas of masculinity today.

Most importantly, we talk about everyone's favourite rat boy Timothée Chalamet, charting his trajectory from sensitive indie darling to mainstream man of the moment.

We also talk about our favourite historical rat boys and the origins of the rat boy phenomenon, from the Romantic poets, to the rock 'n' roll heroes of the 1960s, and the indie lads of the 00s.

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