Cayden Christianson is an American social media star and competitive swimmer who is best known as one half of the social media duo, ‘Pink Shirt Couple’. They have earned a massive following on their YouTube channel of the same name in 2023 and also have accounts on TikTok and Instagram with the handle @pinkshirtcouple. Cayden has also earned various honors and accolades as a competitive swimmer at the Summit League Championships in 2020-21.
Early Life
Cayden Christianson attended Montrose High School and later South Dakota State University, where he actively participated in swimming events. Before entering college, he ranked second in the 200 IM and fifth in the 100 fly at CHSAA 4A Boys State Championships and won the 200 IM, 400 IM and 200 breast events at 2018 Western Zone championships. At SDSU, he made an immediate impact by earning three podium spots at the Summit League Championships in 2020-21. He won the 200 individual medley, placed second in the 400 IM and third in the 200 butterfly events. He also earned all-Summit League honors that season and earned Summit League Men’s Swimmer of the Week honors on March 30, 2021.
Social Media Career
Cayden Christianson started his social media journey on TikTok in November 2020 and initially posted about Airsoft games. His future girlfriend, Alyssa Eckstein, was also active on social media where she shared content about braiding. After the two met in February 2021 and fell in love, they discovered their shared interest in making content and started to create content together. They originally gained popularity on TikTok for participating in Rubik’s Cube wars. They felt more confident about pursuing social media as a career choice by summer of 2021 and branched out to YouTube and Instagram. Their earliest YouTube video, titled Calling two scammers at the same time to talk to each other, was posted on December 30, 2021.
The couple usually posted relatable comedy videos, but one particular video posted on March 28, 2022, changed the course of their social media career. In the video, Cayden stated, “My whole life I’ve been made fun of for my outfits, but today I got a compliment. So, I decided to donate all of my clothes and wear that outfit for the rest of my life.” He filmed the video wearing a pink shirt and has since stuck to his word by wearing a pink shirt and shorts all year round in every video he posts. He has been dubbed the “Pink Shirt Guy”, and together with his girlfriend Alyssa, gained popularity as the “Pink Shirt Couple” after she also adopted his unique dress code. Since then, they rapidly grew on both TikTok and YouTube, but they had a particularly remarkable journey on YouTube as they reached from 1 million subscribers to over 14 million subscribers within seven months in 2023 by focusing mostly on YouTube shorts.
Family Life
Cayden Christianson and his girlfriend Alyssa Eckstein met at college as student-athletes on the swim team.
