Film

It’s Time We Talk About The Unnecessarily Horny Toothbrush Scene From ‘Bring It On’

Isn't it wild that Torrance and Cliff invented sexual tension? Amazing.

by Michelle Rennex  21 October 2020
bring it on toothbrush scene

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Despite some very questionable dance moves in the later sequels, the Bring It On franchise truly is one of the best film series of all time.

The cheerleading flicks really do have it all: Teen drama, impressive cheerleading, juicy scandals, and sappy-ass love stories, which is all anybody really wants in a movie about teen sports.

None, however, are more iconic than the original Bring It On, which told the tale of the San Diego Rancho Carne Toros battling it out against the East Compton Clovers amidst the drama of stolen routines and scary spirit fingers.

Even though Bring It On is now 20 years old, the film was packed with so many memorable scenes that it’s hard to forget. For example, the opening cheer introductions is something that everyone still knows off by heart, and the Clovers absolutely dunking on the Toros by performing their stolen routine from the bleachers is happily seared into all our brains.

But above all else, there’s one scene that sticks out the most. A scene so unnecessarily horny and actually disgusting when you actually think about it. A scene that some have called their sexual awakening. That scene, of course, is the weirdly wonderful toothbrush moment between Torrance Shipman and Cliff Pantone.

In case you somehow managed to forget how this truly iconic scene came to be, Torrance invited this strange bathroom moment to happen after accidentally stumbling upon Cliff playing his lil’ guitar as she was searching for the bathroom.

As she was staying over Missy and Cliff’s house, dental hygiene was clearly of the upmost importance because Torrance and Cliff ended up having a totally silent brush off. Even though Cliff should’ve waited his turn as there was literally only one sink, the pair did as horny teens do and decided to create the most sexually tense scene in cinematic history.

With zero actual dialogue, the two literally just go back and forth brushing and spitting while sharing a good few very flirty looks. If you think about it, it’s actually quite disgusting.

Like if a man just started more and more aggressively spitting his toothpaste bubbles at me on the first night I stayed at his home, I would simply leave, delete his number and then pretend I had suddenly died? Not Torrance though, she was absolutely frothing it all.

While the toothbrush scene is really a whole lot of nothing, it’s easily one of the most important rom-com moments from the 2000s. It’s so important that Ariana Grande even felt the need to replicate the scene in her rom-com filled ‘Thank U, Next’ video with her Victorious co-star Matt Bennett.

But it makes so little sense because Torrance and Cliff are literally just spitting at each other for a minute straight. So, why is this scene so unnecessarily horny?! How is there so much sexual tension, when all they’re doing is scrubbing their tooth enamel raw?

Really, how does the simple act of oral hygiene even become a spit-off that is somehow deemed romantic? And above all else, how did them brushing their teeth with a tiny glob of toothpaste even result in THAT much spit?

While the toothbrush scene is iconic, I’m more mad than anything else because Bring It On set some very unrealistic shared bathroom standards for the world.

For anyone that’s actually being in a hostel with a shared bathroom, there is no sexual tension. There is sadly no Cliff ready to engage in a flirtatious spit-off with you as you wear some painfully 2000s low-rise matching pyjamas.

Instead there’s just a dirty pad in the corner of the room, a really horny British dude that will do anything for a kiss, and a clogged toilet that absolutely reeks of shit.

So thanks for that sad reminder, Torrance and Cliff.