What Is The Tortilla Challenge On TikTok About?

The ‘pranks’ side of TikTok has produced more than its fair share of unsavory, sometimes straight-up unsafe 'challenges' and trends on the app before.

Think the choking hazard of the 'cereal challenge', where one person pours milk and cereal into their partner’s open mouth, their partner lying flat on their back.

Or the Sam Pepper sensibilities of pranks where one person would pretend to seriously injure themselves in front of their partner to catch the reaction on camera. 

This time, however, the latest trend to rise from the app seems fun, harmless, and you probably have the ingredients to do it in your fridge right now: the tortilla challenge.

In order to participate, TikTokkers fill their mouths with water, play a game of rock, paper, scissors, and the winner slaps the loser with a limp tortilla.

The 'challenge' behind it is to keep a straight face after being slapped. Or, if you're in a group, keep a straight face after seeing a friend get slapped.

It’s harder than it sounds; some don’t even make it past the rock, paper, scissors setup, and splutter water and crack up at the mere premise of the trend before they can do it.

It’s the classic try-not-to-laugh challenge, but embellished with the very specific theatrics that tortilla-themed slapstick comedy can offer. 

The tag #tortillachallenge on TikTok now has more than 384 million views, with stars like Demi Lovato and Jimmy Fallon participating on The Tonight Show TikTok account.

The top videos under the hashtag have garnered up to 8 million views each, but there are more still that weren’t posted under the hashtag.

One example, posted by Patti Mac, has an astonishing 62.7 million views.