Vengaboys plead with fans to end viral 'Up & Down' TikTok challenge: 'Please stop getting hurt'
Vengaboys' 1998 chart-topping song 'Up & Down' has served as one of the more recent inspirations for a viral TikTok challenge, called the #vengachallenge as well as the 'Up and Down Challenge.'
Amassing over 50 million views, the videos uploaded as part of the challenge see couples perform some rather acrobatic moves in-sync to the beats of the classic song, and was first started three weeks ago by user Sioned69 who shared a video of them working out to the song with their partner. Since then over 50,000 duos have attempted to recreate the video with their own little twists.
The intense workout craze has also spilled over from TikTok onto other platforms and has even been attempted by some celebrities, including 'The Voice UK' coach Olly Murs, who shared a video of him performing the challenge with his girlfriend during Easter. Murs later stated, "In spite of years of body balance training, this exercise wasn’t easy to do, but we laughed a lot!" Vengaboys themselves shared the video from Murs, stating, "A proper quarantine workout #vengachallenge@ollymurs nailed it! Who's next? Tag us in your vids!"
But despite all the initial fun and most of the videos being relatively harmless, not all of them have turned out quite as well, and the Vengaboys members have now expressed concern for the safety of all who participate in the challenge.
As more and more people join in on the fun thanks to being quarantined at home as part of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, a few unsuccessful attempts at doing the 'Up and Down Challenge' have resulted in everything from bumps and bruises to fractures. And according to the Vengaboys, that’s taking it way too far.
Vengaboys Captain Kim explained, "We are of course delighted with the huge success, but we still want to ask the TikTok community to stop this challenge. If you break a finger or sprain your wrist, you still have to go to the hospital where they have more important things on their mind right now."
With limited resources, hospitals and medical centers worldwide are severely underequipped to deal with the pandemic. And it appears the Dutch group would rather have people be socially responsible at this time, in addition to keeping themselves safe and healthy, and have asked challengers to "please stop getting hurt."
Vengaboys member D-Nice said, "At least TikTok has added a warning to the ‘Up and Down’ challenge videos," adding, "Even though we can see that a lot of people are having fun, we are pleading with them to stop."
However, this isn’t the first time that one of the Vengaboys’ hits has gone viral. Two years ago their banger, 'Boom, Boom, Boom, Boom !!' returned to UK charts after a man from Gloucester inspired a spontaneous street party in his neighborhood by blasting the song out of his car speakers. The street party video was viewed tens of millions of times. And more recently, 'We're Going To Ibiza!' hit number one in Austria last year when the Vengaboys’ party anthem became the protest song of choice against a corrupt Austrian politician.