About

*Pretends To Be Shocked* is a catchphrase used in a series of reaction images and GIFs in which the subject(s) are make expression of surprise even though they are aware of the circumstances. In online conversations, the descriptive audio caption is typically used to convey feelings of acting surprised over something or someone's actions that were entirely unsurprising.

Origin

On June 22nd, 2016, the reality TV show Big Brother premiered its eighteenth season, which featured the American Da’Vonne Rogers who became a prominent subject of memes and reaction images on social media.^[1] One particular meme uses a clip from the TV series in which Rogers pretends she doesn't know about the information she was being given from another participant. The clip was turned into a GIF on October 15th, 2016, by an unknown Tenor^[2] website user, which added the caption "*pretends to be shocked*" (shown below).

On September 14th, 2020, YouTuber^[3] @elixstrations7147 posted a video compilation of the best moments of Big Brother participant Da’Vonne Rogers. The video (shown below) presents the original moment that originated the *pretends to be shocked meme*, which garnered over 284,000 views and 14,000 likes in three years.

Spread

The reaction image was widely used on Twitter after the GIF was uploaded on Tenor in October 2016. For example, on December 1st, 2021, Twitter^[4] user @good4liv_ tweeted about her Spotify Wrapped results, using the reaction image to express how predictable the outcome would be after only listening to Taylor Swift and Olivia Rodrigo the whole year. The post (shown below, left) amassed more than 4,000 likes and 700 retweets in two years. On June 30th, 2020, Twitter^[5] user @williamcastro_s tweeted about the news of the High School Musical movie director coming out as gay. The post (shown below, right) received roughly 60 likes and 14 retweets in three years.

Over the years, the meme received a series of variations utilizing the caption "pretends to be shocked" paired with clips from TV shows, interviews and many other content formats. For instance, on August 9th, 2019, Tenor^[6] user luizinthesky uploaded a GIF of a Brazilian telenovela character pretending to be surprised (shown below).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References