About

The Shell On Challenge is an online social game in which participants eat foods that come in peels, wrappers or shells with the casing still intact. While the challenge has been reported upon in the news media, there is some debate as to the ubiquity or popularity of the game.

Origin

While many believe the current form of the challenge began on Snapchat, variations of the game using the phrase "shell on challenge" began appearing on YouTube in 2017. On February 5th, 2017, YouTuber YonngMo2k15 posted the video "EATING A EGG WITH THE SHELL ON CHALLENGE" (shown below).

Spread

The following year, on October 7th, 2018, YouTuber Toxic Gamer posted a similar challenge with the video "Eating Raw Egg with Shell On CHALLENGE (nearly made me bleed)" (shown below, left).

On April 15th, 2019, YouTuber Sempre posted a video entitled "The SHELL ON Challenge." The post received more than 1,200 views in one week (shown below, right).

The following day, the news outlet the Arizona Republic^[1] reported on the challenge. In the article, they posted a video from Snapchat of high school sophomore Liam Hamm performing the challenge (shown below). He told the outlet, "It just looks funny, because it's not really a shell but people are calling things shells. I guess that is what's funny about it. It's the Tide Pod challenge minus the fact that it's not dangerous."

However, the following day, The Daily Dot ^[2] questioned whether or not the trend even existed. Other outlets covered the trend, including Complex,^[3] the New York Post^[4] and more.

Search Interest

External References