About

The Kim Seon-ho Smile Challenge is an internet challenge and social media trend in which internet users mimic a scene from the K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines where South Korean actor Kim Seon-ho smiles at IU (Lee Ji-eun) during their wedding. The trend went viral on Chinese and American social media in early April 2025 as internet users began mimicking Kim Seon-ho's gesture by smiling and placing their hand over their heart while playfully pretending to faint onto their shoulders. The trend gained traction in the West on TikTok in mid-April 2025.

Origin

Episode 13 of the Netflix K-drama When Life Gives You Tangerines was released on March 28th, 2025. The episode featured a cameo from South Korean actor Kim Seon-ho, who played Yang Geum Myeong's (played by Korean actress IU) love interest in the season finale.^[1]

In this scene, Kim Seon-ho smiles at IU when he first sees her in a wedding dress during their wedding. He places his hand over his heart and playfully pretends to faint onto his shoulder. The scene can be seen in a video uploaded by YouTuber^[2] Cinematic Hearts on March 30th, 2025.

Internet users first began mimicking the scene in China, with several Chinese celebrities mimicking the scene on apps like Douyin and Xiaohangshu. X^[3] user @filoseonhohada posted a compilation of several Chinese internet users mimicking the scene, gathering over 4,000 likes in two weeks.

‘KimSeonho Smile Challenge’ • These are just a few of them but it’s really a cuteee trend 🥹🫶🏻#김선호 #KimSeonHo pic.twitter.com/eRsJR9doWY

— FM .☘︎ ݁ (@filoseonhohada) April 7, 2025

Spread

X^[4] user @seonhojoy also posted about the Kim Seon-ho Smile Challenge and its popularity in China, gathering over 500 likes in two weeks on a post from April 7th, 2025.

The "# Kim Seonho Smile Imitation" challenge has gone viral in Douyin, the tiktok of China! Everyone is doing the Chungseop wink and smile pose with the Ai Cun Zai (Love Exists) song ost of Meteor Garden 😍🥹 #WhenLifeGivesYouTangerines #KimSeonho pic.twitter.com/ihr7LMGxg2

— joy ◡̈ (@seonhojoy) April 7, 2025

By mid-April 2025, the trend had spread to the West, with TikTokers mimicking the smile in videos set to a remix of the song "Supernatural" by Ariana Grande and "Wide Awake" by Katy Perry.

On April 10th, 2025, TikToker^[6] @abeltrld posted one of the earliest known videos mimicking the trend on TikTok, gathering over 10 million plays and 1.3 million views in two weeks.

On April 20th, 2025, TikToker^[5] @ms_yooni posted a video comparing Kim Seon-ho's Smile scene to a scene from Shrek, gathering over 12 million plays and 2.3 million likes in two days.

On April 19th, TikToker^[7] @haleyybaylee posted a video participating in the trend, gathering over 7 million views and 800,000 likes in three days.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References