Another day, another weird TikTok trend, after an Irish fitness influencer went viral for how he speaks and the things he says.
If you’ve been scrolling through your FYP and wondering why everyone keeps commenting “protein bor” on random videos, this should help.
The app has made stars out of creators for dancing, turning up unannounced to visit unimpressed boyfriends and eating raw chicken, but now this trend has come from an accent.
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James Doyle runs a fitness account on TikTok and regularly makes recommendations for his 122k gym fan followers. Doyle has been building up a social media profile by reviewing products that claim to be high protein, including powders, yoghurts and biscuits, but his most popular reviews are of protein bars. Not because they’re much better than the other items he tries, but because of the way he says the words.
The influencer hails from Mullingar, and thanks to his accent he pronounces “bar” as “bor” much to the amusement of viewers, and a new viral trend was born. Fortunately Doyle seems to have seen the funny side of his new infamy, and has posted videos excited about his posts making the news. Other users have made a supercut audio of every time he says the words too, which he shared. The influencer even posted a video joking: “It won’t stop until every person on TikTok comments ‘protein bor’ on this video”, which has racked up more than 435k views and more than 23k comments at the time of writing.
His explainer video about the trend has been seen more than a million times, as he tries to explain why these two little words have gone international and confused many of our friends overseas. “I don’t know what to make of it… I didn’t mean for any of this to happen but keep it lit! We’re in motion,” as he apologised to other content creators who have had their comment sections overrun with “protein bor” comments.
You know you’ve made it when there’s a spoof account set up of you, and a rival account called _protein_bor is gaining followers fast. It’s showing no sign of slowing down and Doyle is definitely making the most of his five minutes and shared a story of him enjoying a celebratory pint for reaching 100k followers. So now if someone comments the phrase on your video, now you know who to thank.
Jen Thomas