TikTok's "Don't Leave Me" Challenge Is the App's Punniest Trend

Challenges on TikTok are very hit or miss. Like most of the internet, there are plenty of challenges that make you cringe. TikTok’s outlet challenge, Autism challenge, and skull breaker challenge are arguably some of the worst out there, whether for their complete insensitivity or for being dangerous.

Others, like the wipe it down challenge, the Vogue trend, and the makeup brush challenge are harmless and have some hilarious results.

The sheer number of challenges on TikTok makes for endless hours of scrolling, whether you’re just looking at celebrity editions of the flip the switch challenge or you just want to laugh at another “beans” video from alt TikTok.

The "Don’t Leave Me" challenge is another of TikTok’s more wholesome challenges. With no skull breaking or bad decisions involved, the challenge is just another opportunity to laugh on TikTok.

You probably hate bad jokes as much as the next person, and the "Don’t Leave Me" challenge is all about bad jokes. If you’ve got an arsenal of dad jokes and horrible puns you’ve been sitting on, this might be the challenge for you.

The whole point of the challenge is to share a pun or equally horrible joke and follow it up with “don’t leave me” as you run away from the camera. It’s the typical reaction you’d expect out of anyone who tells a bad joke — it’s just been turned into a trend on the internet.

Some of the jokes are fun plays on words, while others are downright bad puns that, in any other scenario, would make you roll your eyes rather than laugh. Arguably some of the best ones are when the person telling the jokes has a group of friends to hype up the joke.

Some of the challenge’s highlights (and most groan-worthy) include putting a nickel on your back and calling it “Nickelback,” throwing a stick of butter in the air and calling it “butterfly,” and placing a watch on a table, calling it “timetable.”

Clearly, this trend is all about bad jokes and wordplay. And despite the obviously corny jokes, TikTok users admit that they’re only funny because they’re part of the don’t leave me challenge. 

While many of the app’s trends are TikTok exclusives you can only find on the “For You” page, the don’t leave me challenge has expanded beyond TikTok’s domain.

The hashtag #dontleavemechallenge has over 77 million views on the app, but users are recreating the trends on other platforms, including Instagram and Twitter. 

Similar to the videos on TikTok, these creators continue to tell bad jokes before running away, prompting their friends to say “don’t leave me.” Some even turn the jokes into comedy sketches, catering more to the comedic tone of Instagram and Twitter.

Even if you’re not a big fan of bad jokes, your punniest friend (or your dad who loves dad jokes) will probably enjoy them. If anything, it’ll give them new jokes to try out themselves.