How would you react if you were suddenly able to make someone stand still? Well, a new YouTube trend, the pause challenge, is doing just that and gaining millions of views at the same time.
The trending YouTube video require two participants: one who instructs the other to pause whatever they are doing, wherever they are doing it, and one who obeys the pause.
The challenge resembles Adam Sandler’s 2006 comedy movie “Click,” where Sandler’s character uses a magic remote to rewind, pause and fast forward his life. Anybody who has watched the film knows the hilarious consequences of Sandler’s actions (farting on a paused Hasselhoff is a classic).
A silly, yet central component of the pause challenge is the remote that YouTubers bring on their adventures, pressing its buttons to make it seem as if their partner is a TV. Various channel owners performed the trend on their brother, sister, boyfriend, girlfriend, etc.
The challenge results in awkward and funny moments that are put on pause for as long as the remote owner feels. Let’s press the play button and scroll through four popular channels that broadcasted the challenge to see how their adventures turned out.
1. Adi Fishman
YouTuber Adi Fishman first performed sporadic pauses on several friends and his brother inside a house. Fishman thentook it upon himself to adjust to his newfound pausing powers, and might have overused the pauses to check if the remote and participants were properly working.
As the challenge continued, Fishman paused his brother Tal while he was carrying a large dresser. Thus, the heavy dresser fell to the ground and literally crumbled under Fishman’s power. Later in the video, the hysterical YouTuber paused Tal’s shower and sneakily switched the water to cold — sibling rivalry at its finest.
Next, the chaos-hopeful YouTuber paused his friend Anthony, who was attempting to paint on a semi-tall ladder. While his friend was paused and defenseless, the sly Fishman saw his opportunity to “pants,” or pull down the pants of, the helpless chum. But Anthony couldn’t help but resist, breaking the one rule of the pause challenge.
Finally, Fishman convinced his girlfriend, Emily, to be his final participant. From the moment she entered the door, he was back at it with the sporadic pauses, pummeling his slightly frustrated girlfriend with his comic intentions.
Essentially, Fishman’s version of the pause challenge meant to get on the nerves of his numerous participants, and maybe provided a few prank ideas for his viewers.
2. FaZe Rug
In comparison to the satirical nature of Adi Fishman’s video, Brian, or FaZe, takes the intensity of the challenge up a notch when he performs the pause challenge on his brother, Brandon. There was also an added element to the challenge in FaZe’s video, as whoever had the remote obtained the power, so if Brandon got a hold of it, the tables turned on FaZe.
Right from the start, FaZe paused his brother and left him powerless in the driveway while he slowly drove away in their luxury supercar. Deeming it necessary to give his bro a workout, the relaxed YouTuber pressed play down the street, making his bro run to the car.
Upon reaching the grocery store, Brandon got ahold of the remote and made FaZe remove his shirt and pause. Several pauses and antics were included in the grocery store, including switching of the power (remote), playground balls thrown at FaZe and Brandon lying down on the floor. The trip culminated in FaZe pausing Brandon in line and reaching for his wallet for the payment.
The challenge intensified when Brandon paused FaZe driving fast in his supercar. The results were a little nerve-wracking, with high speeds and more mountainous roads approaching, making it feel like a “Fast and Furious” film.
In the end, Brandon got redemption (for paying at the store) by pausing FaZe in their swimming pool after pushing him in. When the weakened and frozen brother finally made it out of the pool, brownie mix was dumped on him to put the final touches on a freshly made human brownie.
FaZe’s version of the challenge represented brothers getting on each other’s nerves and trying to one-up another. The ideas for sibling pranks are piling up now.
3. Nate Garner
Rewinding back to FaZe, Garner’s pause challenge on his girlfriend Karissa had a similar intensity, but also included hilarious moments. Through the interchangeable remote rule, Karissa initially paused Garner while he was picking up their dog’s, well, let’s say “business.” Nevertheless, the unfazed YouTuber took it up a notch by pausing Karissa during a green light, leaving her to get honked at endlessly.
In addition, the locked-in Garner paused Karissa in the middle of the street while heading to her uber-important meeting, making it a real time-crunch. The nonchalant boyfriend eventually gave in to his girlfriend’s yelling and handed the remote to a random passerby to do the honors.
The YouTuber proved relentless when he paused Karissa before signing an important contract (at the meeting), almost delaying the actual signing. With several consecutive pauses interfering her life, how did Karissa react to her boyfriend’s merciless and inconsiderate pauses? Well, the clever girlfriend paused Garner inside a freezing pool, albeit one with a stellar view. After hinting at leaving, Karissa stayed and forced her boyfriend to concede she has the better Instagram.
To conclude the pause challenge, the couple took turns pausing each other in the gym while lifting weights and running on the treadmill. This channel’s version of the pause challenge depicted a couple trying to prank and make each other angry. You might not want to try these pranks on your significant other in real life.
4. Maddie and Elijah
Let’s fast forward to the last version of the pause challenge left on the menu, which consists of Elijah performing the pause challenge on his girlfriend Maddie, at Disney World in Florida. As the remote owner, Elijah started off easy, making Maddie pause while checking out a few Disney character mannequins. The determined YouTuber slowly increased the volume when he paused Maddie prior to paying for something, in the middle of a walkway and inside an elevator.
In the middle of the video, the challenge switched locations, and Elijah promised to escalate the nervousness for Maddie, and the subsequent excitement for viewers. The coy YouTuber started off by pausing Maddie as she was being handed a Starbucks drink in the drive-thru. Afterwards, the sneaky boyfriend paused Maddie drinking the beverage, forcing her to keep drinking.
Later that night, when the couple ventured to a frozen yogurt shop, Elijah comically paused Maddie while she was pouring her frozen yogurt, resulting in a tall and unsymmetrical swirl. When it rains, it pours, as Elijah once again paused Maddie while she was pouring milk into a bowl at their place. The challenge was approached as a method of harmless tricks and banter.
If the pause challenge sounds like a binge-worthy, intriguing trend to you, then you should pause the bustle of your college life and power on YouTube to see what all the pausing is about.
