About

The Beat It Challenge is an internet challenge and dance trend set to Michael Jackson's "Beat It" sped-up in which one person extends their leg in front of their body, another person grabs their leg and then they jump over their own leg to the song. Sometimes, the participants will also dance before and after the leg jump. The challenge began on TikTok in October 2022.

Origin

On October 25th, 2022, TikToker^[1] @annikenholmen04 posted a video where two girls back into one another, turn around, then do an elaborate handshake. The girl on the right then puts her leg out in front of her body. The girl on the left grabs her leg and the girl on the right jumps over her own leg, bracing herself on a desk behind her for support. She and her friend then do a synchronized dance. The video gained over 14.7 million views in two weeks (shown below).

Spread

The trend spread over the following weeks under the same original sound. On October 26th, 2022, TikToker^[2] @shahaff._ posted a video doing the challenge, garnering over 5.9 million views in two weeks (shown below, left). That same day, TikToker^[3] @notmelodiegascon posted a video of her and a friend failing to do the challenge, garnering over 4.7 million views in the same span of time (shown below, right).

On October 27th, TikToker^[4] @emiliekkennedy posted another video showing a "Beat It" challenge fail, garnering over 8.4 million views in two weeks (shown below).

On November 1st, TikToker^[5] @korylittle_ posted a video where he successfully does the challenge without the support of a desk, garnering over 17 million views in a week (shown below, left). On November 7th, TikToker^[6] @melissamunozofficial posted a rendition of the challenge with her dog, garnering over 7 million views in a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References