Canned Pumpkin Guy

About

Canned Pumpkin Guy refers to a viral video in which TikToker Nathan Timmel describes a situation where his wife sent him to get the ingredients for pumpkin bars but did not put canned pumpkin on the list. Timmel describes calling her twice to ask if she needs it, but she doesn't pick up so he doesn't buy it. She calls him on the way home telling him she needs it, but he refuses to go back to the store, making her angry and forcing her to go buy it herself. The video was posted in late November 2023 and went viral, inspiring largely negative reactions towards Timmel and inspiring the Canned Pumpkin Guy Test, where TikTokers ask their partner what they would hypothetically do in the same situation, sometimes using nachos or another type of food in place of pumpkin bars, hoping they would buy the canned pumpkin despite it not being on the list. Following the backlash, Timmel made a video admitting that the story was made up.

Origin

On November 29th, 2023, TikToker^[1] @ntimmel posted a video beginning, "Single guys, here's what it's like being married," then describes a situation where his wife sent him to the store to get the ingredients for pumpkin bars, but did not add canned pumpkin to the list. Timmel explains that he wasn't sure if they needed it or not and didn't want to buy it unnecessarily as it would just sit in the cupboard unused for a year. He claims he trie to call his wife twice to ask if she needed canned pumpkin but she was unable to answer or call him back. Timmel chooses not to get the canned pumpkin, but gets a call from his wife while he's on the way home. She says they need canned pumpkin but he refuses to go back to the store to get it, suggesting she should have picked up the phone when he initially called. He ends the video, "Now my wife is mad at me because she has to go to the store herself." The video gained over 2 million views in two weeks (shown below).

Spread

The video inspired reactions on TikTok, with many criticizing Timmel for refusing to get the canned pumpkin. For example, on December 5th, 2023, TikToker^[2] @professorneil, an English professor, posted a video criticizing Timmel, garnering over 2.5 million views in a week (shown below). On December 7th, TikToker^[3] @hazel_gm posted a reaction that gained over 200,000 views in the same rough span of time. Another response to the video was posted to /r/TikTokCringe^[8] that day, garnering over 7,000 upvotes in a week.

On December 9th, X^[4] user @dumbbitchcap reposted the video, writing, "The Pearl mind will literally watch this and not comprehend why so many women file for divorce," referencing Pearl Davis, garnering over 2 million views in five days.

The Canned Pumpkin Guy Test

The video sparked the "Canned Pumpkin Guy Test" trend where TikTokers film themselves asking their partner what they would hypothetically do in the same situation, sometimes using another food instead of canned pumpkin. On December 11th, 2023, TikToker^[5] @doublechinfreckledskin posted a video where she puts her partner to the test, using nachos instead of pumpkin bars, garnering over 5.5 million views in three days (shown below, left). On December 12th, TikToker^[6] @jordanhaase posted a similar video that gained over 655,000 views in two days (shown below, right).

Canned Pumpkin Guy's Response

On December 13th, 2023, TikToker^[7] @ntimmel posted a video where he acknowledges and responds to the backlash, claiming the video was a . He explains getting hate on his videos over the canned pumpkin video, claiming people were telling him to get divorced. He directly criticizes the response from the English professor, @professorneil, suggesting he should have known the video was a joke and calling him a "white knight" for women and jokingly implies he's cheating on his wife. He then responds to another TikToker who called his video "toxic masculinity," reiterating that the video was fictional and they fell for it.

Timmel describes how he's "basically a house husband" and does much of the household tasks, such as driving the kids to school and doing laundry. He claims that the comments were "normal" until influencers started telling viewers to hate it. The video gained over 100,000 views in a day.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References