Submission 17,730

ems @helloitsems I've already lost Whamageddon thanks to Mum's Christmas Playlist as we were driving to Southampton At 10am on the 1st of December #whamageddon 6:22 AM Dec 1, 2019 Twitter for iPhone

Daniel Sloss @Daniel_Sloss A day of ups and downs. Got to talk to my all time fave @reallorraine but right before I went on she played "Last Christmas" and I very loudly swore off camera. I'm out #whamageddon 4:23 AM Dec 4, 2018 Twitter for Android

SeaThreePeeo @SeaThreePeeO I've been hit, I'm down, this is it for me, everything is growing dark, fare thee well cruel world! #whamageddon 11:41 AM Dec 4, 2018 Twitter Web Client

Mark Peterborough @markpeterboro Day Three of #whamageddon over, I survived the music in Matalan and Asda Living and whilst queuing up in the post office. I live to fight on. I suspect that these locations will all become more Christmassy with their music as the month progresses. 8:19 PM Dec 3, 2018 Twitter for Android

ExPcTallbird @expctallbird I am running the risk of failing on #whamageddon today by going to a large unnamed shopping centre today #wishmeluck 4:55 AM Dec 3, 2018 Twitter for iPhone

A Date With Dateline Podcast DATELINE@Date Dateline If I may make a humble suggestion when you shopping in WHAM DANGER ZONES like grocery stores, drug stores, Kohl's. Headphones. Listen to music (or our podcast, shameless plug) at a loud volume in your ear buds. You may have hearing damage but you will survive #wha mageddon! S.Melly @melson61 Dec 1, 2018 oh by gosh by golly #whamageddon is going to be hard!!! Especially if people don't start moving a bit faster through the check out lines!!!! @DateDateline Come on shoppers have a game to win!!!! 3:25 PM Dec 1, 2018 Twitter for Android

View All 9 Images

About

Whamageddon is a viral game which takes place in December. To win Whamageddon, you must successful avoid hearing Wham!'s 1984 song "Last Christmas" between December 1st to Christmas and if you loose you must post to social media using the hashtag #whamageddon. The earliest known version of the game first appeared online in 2010 and was dubbed Whamageddon by 2016.

Origin

In 1984, Wham! released the song "Last Christmas" (show below). The official video on YouTube has accumulated over 461.4 million views in 10 years.

On November 3rd, 2010, GTPlanet user Rouwa^[1] posted to the rules of the "Last Christmas" game to an off-topic forum:

It's time again for the famous and infamous "Last Christmas" competition.
As you may know, Wham!'s "Last Christmas" is the most evil song on earth. It causes wars, "ear cancer" and other mean things. Once the Christmas time begins, there is no escape. The song will be everywhere. But resistance is not futile. Not this time. The members of this forum will fight. And win!
Here are the competition rules:
You win, if you "survive" 2010 (31th December 23.59.59 o'clock, your time zone) without hearing the song or any part of it. That is the only way to win.
You lose, if you get "whamed".
- Only the original "Last Christmas" by Wham" with George Michael singing counts. Covers (are there any?) do not count.
- Any part of the song you hear, no matter how short, throws you out of the competition.
- Only audio counts. Images, Animated GIFs or the official music video without sound are OK.
If you lose, you have to post here when, where and how you got "whamed". Then you must try to throw out other users as well, i. e. by posting fake links in this topic or any other.
Some tips to win:
- do not watch TV
- do not listen to the radio
- avoid public places during Christmas time
- turn off the volume before clicking on links in any forum
The last one is the most important, as any link can be fake and lead to a video of "Last Christmas".
Even in big forums hardly anyone ever wins. GTPlanet is the biggest forum I know, so we will probably have some victorious members here.
Leave a message if you participate.

Spread

In December 2016, Whamageddon set up a Facebook page^[2] and website^[3] devoted to the game. On December 23rd, 2016, Whamageddon shared a cover of "Last Christmas to Facebook (shown below). The Facebook page gained over 10,621 followers in three years.

Whamageddon December 23, 2016 We are standing at the foot of stairs of mighty Whamhalla with less than 40 hours remaining of the 2016 edition of #whamageddon To celebrate the survivors and witness those souls who have succumbed to this years challenge we will now go world wide and look at some of the covers made of the song we try to avoid - yet are drawn to like moths to a flame. We start out in a country which - among so many other wonderful things is known to have spawned so much quality in music.. YOUTUBE.COM Matthias Reim - Letzte Weihnacht (Last Christmas) Video Das

In the following years, various media outlets like radio shows and Lifehacker^[4] reported on the viral game. On December 1st, 2018, British Comedian Romesh Rangana posted the rules of the game on his Twitter^[6] account. The post accumulated more 9,400 likes and 5,000 shares in a year for posting the rules of Whamageddon (shown below, left). By the end of the month, the #whamageddon hashtag began trending^[7] in the UK and Ireland (shown below, right).

Romesh Ranganathan @RomeshRanga ROMESH #whamageddon begins today. WHAMAGEDDON THE 4TH RULE THE RULES You're out as soon as you THE 1ST RULE recognise the song. The objective is to go as long as possible without hearing WHAM's Christmas classic; "Last BONUS RULE Post on social media with the Christmas" #whamageddon hashtag when you get hit. THE 2ND RULE The game starts on December 1st, and ends at midnight on December 24th. PUP? While we can't stop you from deliberately sending your friends to Whamhalla, the intention is that this is a survival game. Not a Battle Royale. So don't be a d---, mkay? (Yes, we're European heathens) THE 3RD RULE Only the original version applies. Enjoy the f--- out of remixes and Covers 1:53 AM Dec 1, 2018 Twitter for iPhone

Twitter Moments UK & Ireland @UKMoments It's the final day of #Whamageddon. Are you still in? GIF Holidays The Whamageddon struggle is very real on Christmas Eve 9:08 AM Dec 24, 2018 TweetDeck

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References

^[1] gtplanet – forums

^[2] Facebook – Whamageddon

^[3] Whamageddon – Home

^[4] Life Hacker – Win By Never Hearing Wham's Last Christmas

^[5] Minsterfm- Blog

^[6] Twitter – RomeshRanga

^[7] Twitter – UKMoments

Recent Images 9 total

View All Images

Recent Videos 0 total

There are no recent videos.

Load 41 Comments

Whamageddon

PROTIP: Press 'i' to view the image gallery, 'v' to view the video gallery, or 'r' to view a random entry.

This submission is currently being researched & evaluated!

You can help confirm this entry by contributing facts, media, and other evidence of notability and mutation.