Thirst-trapping is not for the humble; nor is it for the weak of heart. It's one thing to take a sexy shirtless pic and send it to a friend, but posting that pic for the eyes of the masses is an entirely different feat. One must go into the process of thirst-trapping feeling secure enough to know judgement is inevitable. A high degree of confidence is non-negotiable.
On paper, at least, famous people have the most to gain — and the most to lose — by posting thirst traps. The number of eyes is exponentially higher than if you or I posted a pic in our Calvins. These are high-stakes thirst traps we're talking about.
The best thirst traps do exactly what the moniker implies: they catch us off-guard and use basic human attraction to ensnare us, like tiny bugs stuck in sticky lip gloss on a hot summer day. They keep our attention whether we want them to or not.
2022 was a weird year, overall, but it was a great year for thirst traps. Check out some of the thirst traps (and this certainly isn't all of them!) that defined 2022 below.
Charlie Puth
It’s late enough no one’s gonna see this pic.twitter.com/WFcGU34d82
— Charlie Puth (@charlieputh) August 12, 2022
Charlie Puth officially has a girlfriend, but that's not stopping him from teasing boys on Twitter. Puth could teach a MasterClass on the subtleties of thirst-trapping. Some, like the example above, are low-key enough that you might scroll right past them without a second thought. Others are just fully nude butt shots. The range is unmatched.
Puth's extensive thirst-trapping has had him facing accusations of queerbaiting this year, but the singer had a very simple explanation to offer in return: “I am very horny,” he told GQ. “All the time.”
Julia Fox
Julia Fox does not peddle in subtlety — not in talking about her emotional life and certainly not in expressing her sexuality. The time she spent as a dominatrix was pivotal in learning to share the latter. "I got self-worth and self-esteem," she told PAPER of the experience.
Fox displays the kind of outward confidence the majority of us spend our whole lives dreaming of. Her photos exude that exuberance for showing off. Fox always earns extra thirst trap points for her looks, too. These aren't Kardashians-in-lingerie mirror selfies — they're fashion moments that double as thirst snares.
Lee Pace
There's a popular refrain on Twitter that goes something like this: "Lee Pace is 6'4"." The mantra is a simple reminder that the actor is hot; we don't need much more than a height check to keep Pace's attractiveness at the front of our minds. But it's not just that Pace is hot — it's that he knows it.
Pace's thirst traps are artful in that, to the uninitiated, many simply appear to be pictures of his daily life, no thirst intended. Make no mistake, though: there is expert curation here. Pace has posted a total of 12 times on Instagram this year, and all but one of those posts include a hot photo of him. Pace's few-and-far-between approach to thirst trapping keeps us on our toes. When a new one drops, the internet goes crazy.
Haters are part of Ramona Singer's brand, at this point, but she's gotten quite good at silencing them. The Real Housewives of New York City OG hasn't let the messiness of Season 14 stop her from serving looks.
Ramona is tangible proof that you're never too old to thirst-trap. Most of her Instagram posts (and there are many) lean more wholesome than sultry, which made her animal-print dress post from earlier this month was exceptionally breathtaking. This is the kind of poised thirst trap most of us will spend our entire lives trying to achieve.
Omar Apollo
from the back 💯
— Omar Apollo (@omarapollo) November 29, 2022
Omar Apollo is no stranger to posting sexy photos, but we're here to talk about one very specific, unique thirst trap: the text-based thirst trap. Apollo has been the subject of queerbaiting accusations for a while now, and last month he decided to address those accusations in pretty much the most iconic way possible. In response to a tweet questioning his sexuality, Apollo said simply: "no i b sucking dick fr."
The nonchalance of this tweet (and its follow-up: "from the back 💯") simultaneously cleared the elephant in the room and had Twitter's gay population feeling all kinds of horny. The replies are evidence enough — Apollo pulled off a rare feat here. An explanatory thirst trap this good comes but once in a blue moon, and that's if we're lucky.
The Men of "The White Lotus"
Let's give credit here where credit is due: Mike White, showrunner of The White Lotus, gave us a feast for the eyes in the show's second season. And we're not just talking about those lush Sicilian scenery shots. Every episode this season had some sort of thirst trap: Will Sharpe in a wet T-shirt, Theo James swinging a prosthetic dick, Adam DiMarco's butt, also Theo James' butt, Will Sharpe's butt, Leo Woodall's butt — a veritable sea of asses. And, of course, plenty of abs and pecs, too.
The thirst traps did their job: the internet was drooling over these men for seven weeks straight. Women's naked bodies are on-screen far more than those of men — so Mike White gave the world an outlet for objectifying men on TV. And we say thank you.
Late Entry: Playboy Carti
For most of 2022, Playboi Carti was entirely absent from social media. This move, while certainly savvy from a mental health perspective, made it very difficult for him to post thirst traps. But then, on Christmas Eve, Carti posted what appears to be album art to his pristine Instagram grid; the following day, he tweeted twice, for the first time since October 2021: "Hello Twitter" and "love all my supporters it's time."
And then, just in time for inclusion on this list, Carti posted a rare picture of himself to his Instagram. There's no huge production to this thirst trap: it's just a lo-fi close-up of his face. There's a perfect nonchalance to the post, which heavily features Carti's tongue. Just the kind of end-of-the-year comeback fans have been waiting for.
Photos via Twitter and Instagram
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