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DuoDaddy is the slash ship between Duo the Owl and Scrub Daddy from the Duolingo fandom.
Canon[]
Duolingo first collaborated with Scrub Daddy in April 2022, when the Scrub Daddy himself visited the Duolingo HQ in person. Duo was initially jealous of the sponge, believing that he is trying to steal his job. However, a day later, an update video was posted showing Scrub Daddy and Duo lovingly embracing each other, with nary a mention of Duo’s prior animosity. The video ends with Duo “giving birth” to green, owl-shaped sponges, with Scrub Daddy proudly holding one of his “children” in his arms. Two days later, the Duolingo account was forced to post a “non-explicit” version which censored the more overt implications and used different music, but still ends with Duo giving birth. That same day, the Scrub Daddy account posted an appreciation video for all the fanart and fanfic the pairing received. Two months after the birth of their children, the Scrub Daddy account announced that they were giving some of them away as a plug for both of their social media accounts.
In October 2023, Scrub Daddy posted an update video showing the sponge chasing Duo with the caption of “@Duolingo pay your child support…”, indicating that their relationship ended on a sour note. However, that same week, Scrub Daddy posted another video of them happily tending to their children, with Scrub Daddy still considering them “the power couple of the year”, despite the drama. In a recap video, it was revealed that they finally got Duo to pay his child support, though even Scrub Daddy seemed baffled why the Teletubbies were in the room when that happened.
Even with their apparent break-up, further collaborations between Duolingo and Scrub Daddy are frequent, with Scrub Daddy often showing up as a recurring extra in Duo’s TikToks.
In May 2024, Scrub Daddy is shown to be frustrated at a commenter suggesting they should collaborate with Duolingo despite them having already done so, relevant for Scrub Daddy describing himself, Duo and their children as “one big happy family”. Following the announcement of Duo’s death in February 2025, the Scrub Daddy account posted a memorial video captioned with “RIP DUO; You had just started paying your child support. What am I gonna do now??” Scrub Daddy was not amused when it turned out that Duo had faked his own death, immediately pressuring him to pay his child support yet again.
Fanon[]
Fans had already reacted to the official cross promo between Duolingo and Scrub Daddy with surprise, so nobody expected that it would lead to the two mascots officially hooking up. Given that both brands have garnered a reputation for their “unhinged” marketing, it was generally with mild bemusement to actual appreciation. The “babies” and the fact that Duo “laying” them actually happened have become something of a meme, many were disappointed to find out that they couldn’t be officially bought. Fanart often depicts them with humanoid bodies, though a consistent trend is to have Scrub Daddy resemble the actual product far more than the mascot suit shown in the TikToks. Since Scrub Daddy has a feminine counterpart in Scrub Mommy, many cracked jokes that Scrub Daddy was cheating on her with Duo.
On AO3, the pairing is the second-most popular romantic pairing for Duo, the third-most popular for the general “Duolingo” tag and the most popular pairing for Scrub Daddy.
Fandom[]
- FAN FICTION
- Duo/Scrub Daddy tag on AO3
[]
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| Duolingo Ships • Duolingo Characters | ||
| SHIPS | het | DuaLingo |
| slash | DuoDaddy • Hootlingo • Redlingo | |
| femslash | Zarily | |
| cargo | Duogle Translate | |
| CHARACTERS | male | Duo |