BBC Homepage
  • Skip to content
  • Accessibility Help
  • Your account
  • Notifications
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • More menu
More menu
Search BBC
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
Close menu
BBC News
Menu
  • Home
  • InDepth
  • Israel-Gaza war
  • War in Ukraine
  • Climate
  • UK
  • World
  • Business
  • Politics
  • Culture
More
  • Tech
  • Science
  • Health
  • Family & Education
  • In Pictures
  • Newsbeat
  • BBC Verify
  • Disability
  • BBC Trending

Step up to the invisible box challenge

  • Published
    5 December 2017
Share page
About sharing
Ariel prepares to step upImage source, @ariel1220
Image caption,

Ariel prepares to step up

By Sherie Ryder
BBC UGC and Social News

As challenges go on social media, stepping over an invisible box has proved to be quite tricky for some people.

It might sound easy - there's nothing there - but it takes a fair amount of skill and strength to create the illusion there is a box present.

When Ariel Olivar, a cheerleader in Manvel, Texas, USA, showed off her dexterity at defying gravity, her video on Twitter was retweeted 136,000 times, external (and counting) and liked by over a quarter of a million users.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post by ariel

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post by ariel

The trick - which started circulating back in 2014 - is to touch the imaginary box, then keep one foot in the air while the other steps over it. Some people were close, like Maley Moak's friend Maggie, external.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 2 by Maley Moak

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 2 by Maley Moak

Some may or may not have had some help, like E J Valdez, external.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 3 by E.J. Valdez

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 3 by E.J. Valdez

While others - like Holly, external - didn't quite get it right.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 4 by Holly

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 4 by Holly

You might also like:

  • The teenagers behind the Mannequin Challenge madness

  • Vine star recreates Black Lives Matter shootings for Mannequin Challenge

  • When the Ice Bucket Challenge spread to Iran

Ariel's fellow cheerleaders also got in on the act, by kicking away the invisible box, external and, again, garnering tens of thousands of retweets and likes.

This X post cannot be displayed in your browser. Please enable Javascript or try a different browser.View original content on X
The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
Skip X post 5 by ariel

Allow X content?

This article contains content provided by X. We ask for your permission before anything is loaded, as they may be using cookies and other technologies. You may want to read X’s cookie policy, external and privacy policy, external before accepting. To view this content choose ‘accept and continue’.

The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites.
End of X post 5 by ariel

It is yet to be seen how this challenge will compare with previous, popular online trends.

The mannequin challenge gained worldwide notoriety and beyond, with the International Space Station filming their own astronaut challenge, as did recipients of the Presidential Medals of Freedom at the White House.

There was also the ice bucket challenge, where people from all walks of life, and a few celebrities poured cold water over themselves to raise awareness and money for the neurodegenerative motor neurone disease.

By 2016, the challenge had raised enough money to fund discovery of a gene contributing to the disease.

Another internet craze called 'planking' - where someone lies flat on their stomach in unusual situations and posts photos on social media - hit the news for the wrong reasons in 2011 when an Australian man plunged to his death whilst participating in a stunt.

Likewise, although hugely popular in 2013, recreations of the Harlem Shake dance craze saw a college librarian sacked, and police officers disciplined.

More on this story

  • Farc rebels do the Mannequin Challenge

    • Published
      8 December 2016
    Image the Farc used to promote their version of the Mannequin Challenge
  • 'One in six' did ice bucket challenge

    • Published
      12 September 2014
    Montage of ice bucket challenges

Around the BBC

  • BBC World Service - Sportshour, The Man Behind the Ice Bucket Challenge

  • 'Mannequin challenge' pauses university graduation ceremony - BBC News

  • Stabbed police dog Finn in 'mannequin challenge' - BBC News

  • Mannequin challenge at the White House - BBC News

Top stories

  • UK inflation at highest for almost a year and a half

    • Published
      2 hours ago
  • Defence secretary 'unable to say' if anyone killed after Afghan data breach

    • Published
      15 minutes ago
  • Live. 

    Badenoch presses Starmer over possible tax rises at last PMQs before summer recess

    • 8125 viewing8.1k viewing

More to explore

  • Three key questions after Afghan data breach sparked unprecedented secret evacuation

    A monument inscribed with the word Afghanistan outside the headquarters of the Ministry of Defence in London
  • Why is South Korea retrying a spy chief who assassinated a president?

    Kim Jae-kyu sitting between soldiers during the trial in 1979
  • 'It felt personal': Si King on avoiding Sycamore Gap tree felling site until now

    Hairy Biker Si King is stood in front of a fence surrounding the stump at Sycamore Gap, wearing a blue scarf and dark green jacket on a cloudy day
  • How CCTV exposed lies of couple who murdered their grandson

    A young two-year-old boy with light brown hair smiling as he looks at a phone. He is wearing a black and blue stripped jumper, with a sofa and white wooden door behind him
  • Ukrainians unimpressed by Trump's 50-day ultimatum to Putin

    A woman holds a cat in front of a building in Kyiv hit by a Russian shell on 10 July
  • How will age verification for porn work and what about privacy?

    A man looking at his phone in bed
  • BBC pay 2024-2025: The full list of star salaries

    Gary Lineker talking into a BBC Sport mic
  • Watch: How do you get a phone call with the president?

    Donald Trump and Gary O'Donoghue
  • 'My disabled son was punched' - how a CCTV error exposed a major abuse scandal

    x
loading elsewhere stories

Most read

  1. 1

    Emma Watson banned from driving for speeding

  2. 2

    Co-op boss confirms all 6.5m members had data stolen

  3. 3

    Trans changing room row nurse cleared of misconduct as tribunal resumes

  4. 4

    UK inflation at highest for almost a year and a half

  5. 5

    Physician associates need new job title, says review

  6. 6

    Trip drink ad banned over claim it makes you calm

  7. 7

    Southern Water issues hosepipe ban for 1m people

  8. 8

    Defence secretary 'unable to say' if anyone killed after Afghan data breach

  9. 9

    How will age verification for porn work and what about privacy?

  10. 10

    Trump says US attorney general should release any 'credible' information on Epstein

BBC News Services

  • On your mobile
  • On smart speakers
  • Get news alerts
  • Contact BBC News

Best of the BBC

  • Step into the world of luxury holidays

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Billion Dollar Playground
  • Love and fatherhood in noughties Brixton

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Babyfather
  • Will Alison and Daniel be in tune again?

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Mix Tape
  • The reality of relationships in the spotlight

    • Attribution
      iPlayer
    Sex After Celebrity
  • Home
  • News
  • Sport
  • Weather
  • iPlayer
  • Sounds
  • Bitesize
  • CBBC
  • CBeebies
  • Food
  • Terms of Use
  • About the BBC
  • Privacy Policy
  • Cookies
  • Accessibility Help
  • Parental Guidance
  • Contact the BBC
  • Make an editorial complaint
  • BBC emails for you

Copyright © 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.