Diamond Testing

About

Diamond Testing refers to the practice of testing diamonds with a device to determine their legitimacy. Testing diamonds became a trend on TikTok and YouTube starting in 2019, along with ironic memes where users pretend to test diamonds, and pranks involving the use of a fake diamond tester.

Origin

Before the trend, videos showing off diamond testers and testing various pieces of jewelry with the devices can be found dating back to at least the mid 2010s. For example, on October 6th, 2017, traxnyc uploaded a video to Instagram^[1] showing off how to test a diamond, garnering over 37,000 views in 3 years (shown below, left). On January 8th, 2018, vladtv uploaded a video of rapper 6ix9ine having his own diamond chain tested as fake to Instagram,^[2] garnering over 20,500 views (shown below, right).

The diamond testing trend, in which people approach others to test their diamonds or test their own diamonds on camera, started to become popular late in 2019, however, it's unknown who started it and on what platform. On July 10th, 2019, JiDion uploaded a prank video testing random diamonds with a fake tester to YouTube,^[3] garnering over 298,000 views in over a year, representing an early instance of the trend as a prank (shown below, left). On October 30th, 2019, KEL AND P uploaded a video to YouTube^[4] testing strangers' diamonds using an actual Diamond Selector II device, garnering over 3.5 million views in just over a year, representing one of the earliest successful diamond testing videos that isn't a prank. (shown below, right)

Spread

After the success of the first video, KEL AND P uploaded a number of follow-up diamond testing videos to YouTube^[5][6] over the course of the year, each one going viral. On November 11th, 2019, Unghetto Mathieu uploaded a video testing starngers' diamonds garnering over 10 million views in just over a year (shown below).

The trend hit TikTok shortly after diamond testing videos started to go viral on YouTube. One of the earliest examples was uploaded to TikTok^[7] on December 11th by theguytez, who tested his grandmother's diamonds in a video and found them to be fake, garnering over 1.5 million views in a year (shown below, left). On January 28th, 2020, zionstaples uploaded a video to TikTok^[8] testing diamonds around his high school campus, garnering over 3.8 million views in 11 months (shown below, right).

On February 4th, King Josh uploaded a video to YouTube^[13] testing famous rappers' diamonds for authenticity, garnering over 11 million views in 10 months (shown below).

On February 15th, 2020, Christine Jewellers, a Jewelery store in Vancouver, Canada, started uploading videos to their official TikTok page testing their customers' jewellery. The first video^[9] in the series received over 1.9 million views (shown below, left) with the most popular video of the type uploaded to TikTok^[10] on November 15th of the same year, garnering over 39 million views in a month and becoming the most viewed video under the hashtag #diamondtester (shown below, right).

Jexif

On September 21st, 2020, Jexif uploaded a video to TikTok^[11] with the on-screen caption, "Testing teachers wedding rings pt.1" in which he tests the teachers in his school's diamonds (shown below, left). The video gained over 5.8 million views in 3 months, inspiring him to continue posting diamond testing videos. As of December 23rd, his most popular diamond testing video was uploaded to TikTok^[12] on September 28th, garnering over 12 million views in a comparable span of time (shown below, right). By December 23rd, Jexif gained over 724,000 followers for his diamond testing videos.

On October 29th, dexerto^[14] published an article on Jexif, followed by daily dot^[15] on October 30th.

Diamond Tester Parodies

On October 30th, 2020, malkimeansking uploaded a video to TikTok^[16] where he pretends to test the diamonds in his grill with a meat thermometer, poking fun at the diamond testing trend (shown below, left). The video gained over 1.9 million views in under 2 months. Sometime prior to November 2nd, lil_beef23 uploaded a video where he pretends to test the diamonds on his chain, which has since been deleted, but became popular in stitches and duets. On November 2nd, malkimenasking uploaded a Stitch with the video, garnering over 2.5 million views in just over a month (shown below, right).

Users started stitching and duetting to both malkimenasking and lil_beef23's videos doing their own fake diamond tests throughout the end of 2020. For example, on December 4th, jay_jay_brothers uploaded a video to TikTok^[17] testing his grill with a kettle, garnering over 590,000 views in 20 days (shown below, left). On December 22nd, brukbrukshi uploaded a video[ to TikTok^[18] testing a lego figure on a chain with a home phone, garnering over 16,000 views in a day (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

N/A

External References