You Have Been Samueled

Submission 3,042

Part of a series on Bait-and-switch Media. [View Related Entries]

About

You Have Been Samueled refers to a bait-and-switch meme similar to formats like You've Been Gnomed where a video set to "Moves Like Jagger" of a hamster running toward the viewer, followed by a cut to the Hampter image, plays in place of the expected media. The video, which encourages viewers to share it within 30 seconds, gained viral spread on sites including TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, between April and September 2023.

Origin

On January 10th, 2023, YouTuber^[1] shitpost do gato adm posted a meme where a gray hamster runs towards the camera. It then cuts to a close-up of the Hampter meme overlayed with the caption "Samuel." The video gained over 193,000 views in eight months (shown below).

On April 20th, TikToker^[2] @backyoooooo reposted the video with an additional caption at the end reading, "You have been Samueled you have 30 seconds to like and Samuel someone else," garnering over 5.3 million views in five months (shown below).

@backyoooooo #viral #foryou #foryoupage #fyp #trending #comedy #viralvideos #share #like ♬ original sound – Backchesta

Spread

The meme was reposted numerous times over the following months. On May 30th, 2023, TikToker^[3] @catdraven0 posted the video, garnering over 13.3 million views in four months. On June 1st, X^[4] user @hourly_shitpost posted it, garnering over 50,000 likes in three months. On June 23rd, X^[5] user @opera posted the video, garnering over 2,300 likes in three months (shown below).

you have been samueled pic.twitter.com/FmYdL2CFYV

— Opera (@opera) June 23, 2023

On July 27th, TikToker^[6] @boutiquediabolik posted a video inspired by the meme, writing "you have been Samueled" in the video description, garnering over 32,000 views in two months (shown below).