TikTok’s viral hoodie video explained: Illusion baffles viewers

An illusion video by user Christian Kesniel showing different versions of himself dancing in hoodies has garnered over 40 million views on TikTok, with people trying to figure out how the mind-boggling trick works.

The internet has always been fascinated with baffling illusions, and TikTok is no exception, with bizarre and seemingly inexplicable videos going viral on a regular basis.

A video uploaded by TikTok user Christian Kesniel in April is the latest clip to confuse millions of viewers who have stumbled across it on their For You Page.

In the video, Christian can be seen dancing to a version of the viral sea shanty ‘Wellerman’ that was hugely popular on the app in 2021. There are several versions of him dancing, each of them wearing a different bright hoodie, and towards the end of the clip, the figures rotate and change places.

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However, viewers became baffled as they watched the video and realized it was a perfect loop. Although the green hoodie starts the video at the front of the group, when they all rotate places, the green hoodie seemingly impossibly moves into the front spot again.

“My brain is sooo confused. I love this!” one user wrote, another saying: “Okay I’ve watched this about 30 times and it still keeps f***ing my brain!”

TikTok hoodie illusion explained

Upon looking closer and watching the video a few times through, people eventually realized that the hoodies were all gradually changing color through the course of the video.

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The transition is so slow that many didn’t even notice it the first time around, but soon people started catching on. Try watching each hoodie individually as you repeat the video, and you’ll realize how the seemingly impossible illusion works.

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“So yah, I just had to watch it a couple of times just to see how the jackets’ colors change,” one comment with over 100,000 likes read.

The original video now has over 40 million views and 4.8 million likes.

Last year, one TikTok user went viral when she showed users a beanie she bought that appeared to totally change color in different lighting.