Women are realizing their 'emergency contact' boyfriends are, in fact, useless—and the internet's losing it

Living in an age where relationships form and break in the blink of an eye, a tap on the phone, or a tab on the dating app, having an emergency contact is quintessential. When choosing an emergency contact, people typically look at whether someone is dependable and mature enough to support them in times of need. Lately, a trend is running hot on TikTok where women are flipping the serious concept of “my emergency contact” and revealing their partners' absurdest and most comic tendencies. These women are sharing videos of their boyfriends and husbands engaged in idiosyncratic quirks that are hilarious and over-the-top kooky. One of these videos, posted by Gabi (@sullivang_), has amassed nearly 68 million views.

Gabi’s video shows her boyfriend trying to dig his head inside a wall of snow. The song “Ordinary Girl” from “Hannah Montana” by Radio Disney played in the background, as with most of the videos posted in this trend. Gabi’s man keeps on burrowing with his head until it gets covered in snow to the neck. Then he pulled himself out, removed his beanie and smiled at the camera with a dollop of snow sticking to his nose. “Blessed,” Gabi wrote in the caption.

In another video, a 24-year-old woman from Miami, Thalia Gabriella (@thaliasprivatestory) shared the video of her partner slumped on a gaming station. Sitting with no shoes but only socks on his feet, the man pushed out his buttocks as if making a fart pose. Commenting on the funny scene, Thalia wrote, “I’m sobbing.” The video garnered more than 9 million views. A TikTok user, called @jadharv said, “I could never recover from seeing this.”

Halarni Strathie (@halarni), a 29-year-old Australian mom, showed her “emergency contact” performing another ridiculous stunt inside a swimming pool. At first, the man picked up a large, colorful inflatable toy shaped like a pigeon. While wrapping his arms around its neck, he sat on its back while other men inside the pool rolled into laughter. He then acted as if he was riding the pigeon inside the water, but ended up wobbling and tumbling in the front, plunging his body into the pool with a splash. Halarni wrote, “Help” in the video caption. @gmd.30 told her, “No ma’am, he’s just your contact.” @vale.250 said, “He’s the emergency.”

Grace (@thenameisgrace) shared how her partner literally butchered an avocado while trying to cut it with a knife. The video attracted comments from some of the leading brands including the pizzeria Papa Johns (@papajohns). “This hurts,” they wrote. Audiobooks brand @Audible wrote, "The one time we’re at a loss for words." A person, @martadettori humorously commented, “I am so sorry for that avocado.”

@sydneycrawfordd shared the moment when her partner dumped a bowl over a spider crawling on the floor and then immediately wiggled his legs with fear. Whereas, Madelyn (@madelynfrommissouri) shared one with her boyfriend on a bench press machine. With his legs spread wide around the gym bench, the man started shaking and swinging his hips wildly, while simultaneously giving a look that made people think that he was Martin from “Slushy Noobz.” In a comment, Madelyn said, “I’m crying.”

Natalia (@natalia.vel44) kicked off the trend with a video that showed her man seemingly unable to pack a suitcase in the car. Carmen (@carmenltran) shared a clip of her partner wearing a snorkel and scuba diving fins while walking on the beach and floating in the sea. "Realising that this man is my emergency contact," she wrote in the overlay caption. Keeping the humorous side of these men’s stunts, people reflected how they are all just childlike in their hearts, and hence, good partners. “I just love our boyfriends and how they are all just little boys deep down and Eugh! I just love them,” @jessieford0 commented on Carmen’s video. @sammykatie1905 said, “Having a golden retriever bf is better than any other emergency contact.”

You can follow Grace (@thenameisgrace), Halarni Strathie (@halarni), Gabi (@sullivang_), Madelyn (@madelynfrommissouri), Thalia Gabriella (@thaliasprivatestory), @sydneycrawfordd, Natalia (@natalia.vel44) and Carmen (@carmenltran) on TikTok to watch more videos on their channel.