Grandma Picks Favorite Grandkids With Savage Ranking Board | "Tough Love Is Definitely Her Thing"

Grandmas are the heart of every family. They share a special bond with their grandkids and shower their selfless love. But Mary La Morte is a tough nut to crack. It is hard to earn a favorite spot in her heart, and her grandkids know this very well. Oh, yes! She is also downright savage.

New Jersey grandmother, Mary La Morte, 85, went viral for her ruthless ranking system for crowning her current favorite grandkid. One of her grandkids, a standup comedian, shared her savage ranking in a TikTok video. He shared the video on his TikTok account, @danlamorte, and the caption read, "My ranking on my grandma’s leaderboard after showing her my new tattoos." She ranks her grandkids based on their recent activities and she gets to decide if these activities deserve encouragement or reproach.

The 27-year-old comedian shared the not-so-secret standard of ranking grandkids from good to bad on a scale of 10. The clip has 3.9 million views and over 498k likes. La Morte shares how he got demoted to position 10 in the hilarious clip. Earlier, he was at rank 4.

Dan says, "This is my grandma's ranking board. She has a wooden board where she ranks the grandchildren from one to 10, all of our faces on magnets. I am No. 4, the highest I have ever been, but did just get two new tattoos though, so I am a bit nervous about what that is going to do for my ranking."

In the video, Dan approaches his grandmother and lifts his sleeve to reveal the new tattoos. Mary immediately drops Dan from rank 4 to 10 (the lowest rank). She said, "This is what I think of your new tattoos."

Mary is a funny woman. She speaks her mind and does not care about what other people think. In an interview with Fox News, she revealed that the ranking board system was initially a joke in 2015, "My grandson, Christopher, and his girlfriend, they made it, and they brought it over to us. They had all the cousins' names and pictures, and so we hung it up in our house."

The family thrives on humor, and Dan chimed, "It was always an inside joke that there were favorites in the family. So, that is how the board was made."

Mary shed some light on the criteria for ranking her favorites. "My grandson just had a new baby, so he goes to the top because it is a very good, happy moment," she said. "And I'm not going to even get into demotions. Tattoos? That'll do it every time."

Dan explained that it keeps the family together, and they love their grandma. He further revealed how the first two spots are occupied by cousins whom their grandma adores the most, a dentist and a veterinarian. "It is a good system to keep the family encouraged to kind of stay close together, to always make sure you are checking in," he said.

Dan told TODAY that some people were upset that the grandmother was using a ranking board for her grandkids. He added, "It’s her way of making sure we check in with her. Tough love is definitely her thing.”

Dan shared they are scared of adding great-grandkids to the list because they will always top the charts. "We do not put them on the board because we are scared, they might get ranked above us," he admitted.

"They are younger and cuter, and they have not messed up as much. We have always been a very jokey, roasty family. It is definitely a way to keep everyone together, and it gets us all talking. I was lucky with four funny grandparents who are all still alive. I always grew up with someone telling jokes—and Nanny always tells you never to take yourself too seriously," Dan concluded.