About

The "Not Mr. Darcy But" Trend is a TikTok trend in which users upload a video of someone, often their partner, walking towards them with something romantic or funny under a variation of the phrasal template and caption, "Not Mr. Darcy but X," "X" being the thing that the subject is bringing them. Alternatively, some videos feature pets or friends doing something funny and not romantic. The trend began as early as June 2025 and was further popularized throughout late August and early September. The character Mr. Darcy is from Jane Austen's book Pride and Prejudice and is an archetype of the aloof romantic hero and a romantic interest of the novel's protagonist, Elizabeth Bennet.

Origin

On June 25th, 2025, TikToker^[1] @maile_moe12 posted a video of their dog eating raspberries straight from a bush, captioned, "It's not Mr. Darcy walking through a field but my dog eating raspberries," garnering over 13,000 views in three months. This is the earliest known video to follow the trend.

Spread

The trend was popularized on TikTok in mid-August 2025, spreading over the following weeks.

On August 11th, 2025, TikToker^[2] @char.takes.shots posted a video following the trend with footage of her husband bringing her a Costco hot dog, garnering over 700,000 views in a month.

On August 13th, TikToker^[3] @thehappinessacademy2.0 posted a video of her husband buying her KFC under the caption, "Not Mr. Darcy but my husband buying me a KFC $7 fill up after respectfully filling me up at home," garnering over 3.6 million views in a month.

On September 3rd, TikToker^[4] @hew7326 posted a video following the trend using footage of their cat Dorito running towards them, garnering over 1.9 million views in six days.

On September 9th, 2025, Indy100^[5] then reported on the trend.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References