What Is Snail Tok? The Explainer You’ve Been Waiting For

He’s behind you.

If you’ve been scrolling through TikTok lately, you’re probably being served a lot of snail related content. Weird, right?

As it turns out, ‘the snail’ (aka snail tok) is one of the biggest trends going right now with thousands of creators jumping on board.

But there’s a fair chance you might not know what it’s about. To help you out, here is our guide to understanding the snail.

What is the origin of the snail?

Have you ever sat around with your friends and played that hypothetical scenario game? Like when you ask a friend if they would accept $100 million but every time you sneeze someone you know dies. Yeah, that’s where the snail comes from.

According to Know Your Meme, in a 2014 episode of the Rooster Teeth Podcast, hosts Gus Sorola, Gavin Free, Matt Hullum and Burnie Burns discuss a hypothetical scenario in which a person would receive $10 million but would have a snail follow them and if the snail touches them, they die. Random, hey?

Oh, and we forgot to mention you’re immortal, so your only way out of life is via the snail’s death touch.

Why the resurgence?

In August this year, TikToker benjhandy posted a video talking about the Reddit thread based on the Rooster Teeth scenario. Benjhandy was bummed that he missed out on the discussion and wanted to rekindle the snail scenario.

The video got almost a million views and birthed a resurgence in the hypothetical scenario that has now clocked over 147 million views on TikTok.

As for why social media has latched onto a seven-year-old scenario, why does anything go viral? It’s a mystery to us all.

Will the snail ever die?

No, ‘cos it’s immortal and the internet is forever.

Instead of worrying about the snail catching you though, just enjoy our favourite memes about the snail.

@lights.are.off The snail is faster than you think! #snail #immortalsnail #thesnail ♬ Eleanor Rigby - Cody Fry

@rowdexplores #snail #thesnail #foryou ♬ original sound - Jacob Baughman

@bayleyistrying greeting an old friend #thesnail #snail #iykyk ♬ Eleanor Rigby - Cody Fry

@beninternet I bought a plane ticket just to film this. #snail #thesnail ♬ Eleanor Rigby - Cody Fry

Of course, we couldn't resist having a crack at our own too.

@studentedge #stitch with @shitpostsv3 ♬ original sound - Student Edge

Header Image: klivesss/rowdexplores/lights.are.off via TikTok