Rubber bands wrapped around a watermelon

The exploding watermelon stunt or exploding watermelon challenge involves wrapping

rubber band A rubber band (also known as an elastic, gum band or lacky band) is a loop of rubber, usually ring or oval shaped, and commonly used to hold multiple objects together. The rubber band was patented in England on March 17, 1845, by Stephen Perry ...

s around a

watermelon The watermelon (''Citrullus lanatus'') is a species of flowering plant in the family Cucurbitaceae, that has a large, edible fruit. It is a Glossary of botanical terms#scandent, scrambling and trailing vine-like plant, and is plant breeding ...

until the pressure of the rubber bands causes the watermelon to explode in a dramatic or spectacular fashion.

BuzzFeed event

On April 8, 2016, the website ''

BuzzFeed BuzzFeed, Inc. is an American Internet mass media, media, news and entertainment company with a focus on digital media. Based in New York City, BuzzFeed was founded in 2006 by Jonah Peretti and John Seward Johnson III, John S. Johnson III to ...

'' streamed the stunt live on

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

. (11 April 2016)
Why BuzzFeed Exploding A Watermelon On Facebook Is Not The Future Of TV
''

International Business Times The ''International Business Times'' is an American online newspaper that publishes five national editions in four languages. The publication, sometimes called ''IBTimes'' or ''IBT'', offers news, opinion and editorial commentary on business and ...

'' During the 45-minute stream, the event peaked at over 800,000 live watchers, and the resulting video of the event garnered millions of views.Nashrulla, Tasneem (8 April 2016)
We Blew Up A Watermelon And Everyone Lost Their Freaking Minds
''

'' The event was parodied a few days later on ''

The Tonight Show ''The Tonight Show'' is an American late-night talk show that has been broadcast on NBC since 1954. The program has been hosted by six comedians: Steve Allen (1954–1957), Jack Paar (1957–1962), Johnny Carson (1962–1992), Jay Leno (1992–2 ...

.''Holub, Christian (14 April 2016)
Jimmy Fallon parodies exploding watermelon video with 'Chicago Melon'
''Entertainment Weekly'' The show had attempted the stunt in September 2015 with

Olivia Wilde Olivia Wilde (born Olivia Jane Cockburn, , March 10, 1984) is an American actress and director. She played Thirteen (House), Remy "Thirteen" Hadley on the medical-drama television series ''House (TV series), House'' (2007–2012), and appeared ...

, but cut the segment short as it was taking too long.Goldstein, Ian (26 September 2015)
Jimmy Fallon and Olivia Wilde try to make a watermelon explode on The Tonight Show
''Entertainment Weekly'' The event generated discussion of the future of journalism where trivial events can garner significant attention.Rutenburg, Jim (18 April 2016)

''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

''Castillo, Michelle (8 April 2006)
The future of TV: 800K watch a watermelon explode
''

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

''Kleinburg, Scott (11 June 2018)
"What an exploding watermelon teaches us about social media"
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''"7 TV Shows With Fewer Viewers Than BuzzFeed's Exploding Watermelon Video"
''Wired'' (8 April 2016).Hathaway, Jay (8 April 2016)
"Welp, the future of Facebook is exploding watermelons"
''The Daily Dot''

Challenge origin

The concept of putting rubber bands around a watermelon until it explodes first became popular on the internet as early as at least July 2012, when the stunt was filmed by

The Slow Mo Guys ''The Slow Mo Guys'' is a science and technology entertainment web series from Thame, England, created and owned by Gavin Free, starring himself and Daniel Gruchy. It has been described as the biggest channel for slow motion videos on YouTube ...

with a very high frame-rate camera, but earlier videos date back at least to 2008.(16 July 2012)
"Exploding a Watermelon with Rubber Bands"
''Laughing Squid''

References

{{BuzzFeed BuzzFeed Internet challenges Watermelons

BuzzFeed event

Challenge origin

See also

References