Let’s set the scene: you walk into your hotel room, toss your bags on the bed, and there it is—that chair. You know the chair I mean, it’s not just any chair. This chair has a purpose, a history, and a front-row view of your life and perhaps other activities (here's looking at you Kev). It’s perfectly placed, tilted just enough to stare at the bed like it’s waiting for a performance.
Over time, this innocent piece of furniture has earned the cheeky nickname “the cuck chair.” But how did we get here? Who decided this was the hill they’d place their chair on? And, dare we ask, does the presence of this chair subtly normalize the idea of cuckold relationships?
Take a seat in the cuck chair—as we dive into the purpose, history, and secret life of this lonely hotel room chair.
Before we get to the juicy stuff, let’s cover the basics. Hotels, being the temples of convenience that they are, add a chair to rooms for very practical reasons. You need a spot to tie your shoes, toss your jacket, or sip a cup of overpriced room-service coffee without lounging in bed like an animal. But why is there only one and why does it always face the bed?
The chair’s placement is often about maximizing space and creating a functional flow in the room. Interior designers likely thought, “Hey, this makes sense for the guest to sit and chat with someone lying on the bed.” "Oh I know, let's place it in such a manner that it cannot see the TV!" We’ve added layers of meaning to this simple piece of furniture, and not without reason. Cue the internet, which took one look at this suggestive setup and collectively said, “Wait... is this for husbands that wish to watch their wives be satisfied for once?” Why, yes. Yes it is.
Thanks to the rise of memes, the humble hotel chair was rebranded in the late 2010s as the “cuck chair.” The term, of course, draws from the concept of cuckold relationships, where one partner derives pleasure from their significant other being intimate with someone else—often with an element of voyeurism. And doesn’t that chair, perfectly positioned by the bed, just scream “observation deck”?…
