Shrekking is going viral right now, and it’s the most savage dating trend yet

Yes, it comes from the film

2 hours ago

If you thought ghosting, breadcrumbing and benching were bad enough, brace yourself.

TikTok has now birthed a new dating term: Shrekking. Yes, that’s a direct reference to Shrek the ogre, and sadly, it’s not about finding your fairy-tale ending.

Essentially, Shrekking describes the act of dating down on purpose. The idea is that you pick someone you believe is less attractive than you, because you think they’ll be grateful, worship the ground you walk on, and never hurt you. It’s meant to be a kind of emotional insurance policy: if you date someone you think is below your league, then surely they won’t reject you.

@thisiswhyimsingle2024

Getting shreked. I’m here for it 🤣 #shreked #onlinedating #datingsucks

♬ original sound – Bekah

Except, plot twist, that’s not how it works. To be “Shrekked” is to get hurt anyway. You go into the relationship expecting to hold all the power, and then end up heartbroken, traumatised or humiliated by someone you thought was a safe bet.

The trend is loosely inspired by Shrek’s story arc, where Princess Fiona takes a risk on an ogre and it works out. But in TikTok reality, Shrekking often plays out more like: you take a risk on someone you’re not attracted to, assume they’ll treat you like royalty, and discover that ogres (and humans) have layers… many of them disappointing.

Credit: Disney Pixar

One person summed it up perfectly on TikTok: “It’s where you’re traumatised by a man who literally looks like Shrek. We’ve all been there – we give the guy we’re not attracted to a chance, thinking that he’ll for sure know what he has and treat us well. And then we get traumatised by a whole troll.”