What is the ‘Grimace Shake Trend’ going viral on TikTok?

There’s always some kind of viral food challenge taking over TikTok, whether it’s NyQuil chicken (“sleepy chicken”), toaster grilled cheese, nacho tables, or lemon coffee, there’ll always be someone on Earth willing to endanger themselves for the sake of views and clout. And nothing could be more dangerous than McDonald’s mascot Grimace — whom TikTokers and social media personalities alike are calling a “Griminal” — for the “Grimes” he’s committed against those who try his new berry-flavored shake, included in the limited-time Grimace Birthday Meal.

What seems like an innocent marketing opportunity for McDonald’s has resulted in several casualties and possessions across TikTok (we kid, of course) as Grimace rolls out his Birthday Meal shake to reduce the population with poison-infused goodness. As you’ll see from the assortment of videos below, anyone brave enough to drink the milkshake has suffered disastrous consequences. Let it be known that this is all in good fun, so the Grimace shake is perfectly safe for consumption.

Anyone taste-testing the product reportedly didn’t “feel good” after consuming it. Moments later, viewers get a glimpse of the so-called “grime scene” as Grimace strikes down the individual in some brutal-yet-hilarious manner. TikTokers imitate Grimace taking their soul, drowning them, assaulting them, and all sorts of weird and frankly over-the-top ideas. Again, while it might sound a tad graphic, none of this is real and it isn’t quite as disturbing as it sounds.

It’s definitely the captions that make these videos pure satire. “I love grimmy” and “Grimace did not like me forgetting his bday” are among some of the outrageous quotes used to make light of their impending doom. We’ll warn you before you go down that rabbit hole: some of these videos can be extreme, so while we haven’t come across any sensitive ones, we’d advise against watching too many if you’re easily upset or squeamish.

One of the most common forms of the trend involve trying the Grimace shake, leaving a bad review, then getting “poisoned” by Grimace himself. There are several variations to this outline, namely those that replaced “poisoned” with some other horrific torture.