One of the newest viral video themes to hit the Internet is known as the mannequin challenge. The mannequin challenge basically is what it sounds like, where the whole point of the challenge is to appear like you are temporarily frozen in time. You have to be completely motionless in the mannequin challenge, thus appearing as if you are a mannequin. It works best when a group of people are doing the mannequin challenge together, so this is not just an individual viral video campaign. The mannequin challenge has caught on so well that athletes from various sports, celebrities, reality television stars, and everyday people are getting in on the trend.
We have compiled a list of the top 10 mannequin challenge videos so far, although there are so many good mannequin challenge videos out there it was hard to choose the best. You can check out the top 10Â mannequin challenge videos below, and also hit up Twitter and YouTube to see more challenge videos.
#10 – Clemson Football Team
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7iI38WadkA8
The Clemson football team nailed the mannequin challenge when the entire team posted a video showing them completely frozen still. The video, which you can watch in full, shows various Clemson football stars in amazingly still positions. There impression of the mannequin challenge has only been up for a few days, but it is a great video to show just how hard it must be to completely freeze for over 30 seconds.
In the beginning of the video, when it begins to pan around the football team, you can see one athlete laying on the ground with a water bottle in the air as if he was about to take a drink. Other players have jerseys on and are standing, some have their arms raised in the air, and others are just motionless sitting down changing their clothing. The Clemson Football team ended up doing around 35 seconds worth of the mannequin challenge.
#9 – Pole Dance 411
When it comes to pole dancing, just doing the moves is hard enough. Now try staying suspended in the air motionless for the mannequin challenge. It is because of the immense strength of freezing in those pole positions that Pole Dance 411 earns a spot on the top 10 mannequin challenge videos. Pole dancing is known for being a very active activity, since you have to use a lot of coordination, balance, and muscle in order to achieve many of these positions and poses.
The best part is that the video shows the pole dancers holding the mannequin challenge for over 60 seconds. That might not seem like a long time to do a freeze pose, but the strength of these women in their arms, legs, and abdominal muscles has to be insane for them to be able to hold these positions for that long. Regardless of the situation in which you might see someone dancing around or on a pole, this mannequin video shows that these women rely on their muscles in order to stay in these oddly-angled poses for periods of time. You can see in the video that there are even women who are hanging upside down with only one foot keeping them from falling over, and freezing these moves is pretty amazing.
#8 – Dallas Cowboys on the Team Plane
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLIX1OJ5CZc
Flying back in the team plane after winning a game and being 7-1, the Dallas Cowboys football team decided to get in on the mannequin challenge. The greatness of this mannequin challenge is why it is promptly on this list as one of the best challenge videos thus far. You can see in the video that poor Tony Romo is stuffed into an overhead compartment with half his body sticking out. Some of the other players are drinking, listening to music, sleeping, celebrating, and in the middle of talking when the mannequin challenge happened. Even owner Jerry Jones got in on the fun!
#7 – Kelly Rowland, Michelle Williams & Beyonce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UaZeCgR_kk
Got to be a survivor if you want to be on the mannequin challenge best-of list, and the women of Destiny’s Child know all about surviving. In this great 30-second challenge video, you see the three of them being completely still in a child’s playroom with smiles on their faces and toys in their hands. It appears that Beyonce is about to catch a ball and struck a pose right beforehand, and it is very child like as well as cool to see this typical children’s game played out in this challenge. This video is on the list mostly because it’s Destiny’s Child and everyone loves seeing them together reuniting, plus you can’t go wrong if you are recreating a fun childhood memory.
#6- Kevin Hart at the Gym
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B9arU2QcAiI
If anyone can make a funny face in the middle of a situation it definitely is Kevin Hart. Hart uploaded a mannequin challenge video while he was in the gym somewhere in Hawaii a few days ago. While the mannequin challenge itself is not very long, it is still hilarious because of Hart’s facial expression as he is frozen in place working out. The best part of Hart’s gym mannequin challenge video is that there are other guys working out with him who are all stuck in weird and funny positions. There is one guy being in the middle of a sit-up or crunch in the video. Another guy is on a bench with a goofy smile on his face, and other men are in the middle of doing arm or leg exercises with equipment as the mannequin challenge is going on. This is actually a really relevant mannequin challenge video too because Hart was filmed with Conan O’Brien doing a skit at the gym just a few weeks ago, so it is funny and timely.
#5 –Â Pittsburgh Steelers
While we have talked about athletes doing the mannequin challenge, it appears now even the news crews and reporters covering the games are getting in on the fun too. The Pittsburgh Steelers and news crew just released their version of the mannequin challenge a few days ago, and it’s pretty entertaining. In the Pittsburgh Steelers mannequin video, one guy is holding the microphone in almost a frozen position, while one of the stars of the team seems to be up giving a speech on how the game went. There is also another guy in the video who is motionless and holding a big video camera, who seems to be part of the film crew in the locker room of the Steelers. We think of football as such a quick and intense sport that seeing the press conference with a player just frozen and the film crew with their phones, cameras, and microphones out just is so funny.
#4- Rae Sreemurd Concert
It is one thing to do the mannequin challenge at home or in school, but Rae Sreemurd stopped his entire concert to make his version of the mannequin challenge. In the nearly 30-second video, you can see Rae Sreemurd as well as other people on the stage stopping and standing completely still while in the middle of a song and playing instruments. While that was cool, the best part about this challenge video is that the entire crowd stopped what they were doing, such as filming and singing along, to also participate in the challenge.
You just see everyone standing still in the middle of a concert, motionless and it is a very unique and amazing perspective on the viral craze. It is just crazy to think about all of these people literally coming together to stop what they are doing for a mannequin challenge and those that were there agreed it was simply lit to see in person.
#3 – McDonald’s Fast Food
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ6Igv-an0k
When you think of McDonald’s you can imagine people running around trying to get orders out to customers, and customers sitting down eating their food and talking. These images in our minds are why the McDonald’s mannequin challenge is number three on our list. In the video, you can see the fast food workers being completely still behind the counters, not making food or counting any money. There is a worker in the back who is holding a mop in the air right before the mop is to come down onto the floor, While that does not seem too tricky, the best part of this video is that all of the customers are frozen motionless in their seats, which is a hard thing to pull off for any video.  The customers are holding their phones up as if they are in the middle of watching videos or texting, while others have food in their hands like they were going to eat it.
#2 – Enloe High School Girls Basketball Team
Although celebrities might be getting a lot of the mentions on the mannequin challenge, props should be given to the Enloe High School girls basketball team for their 43-second challenge video. This video really represents what the mannequin challenge is all about, which is being frozen in place no matter what you appear to be doing. The variety of motionless positions in this video is what makes it appear on this list near the top. You have a couple girls that are in the middle of a high five, a few others are recording the basketball game, and there are girls on the ground. The positions of both the defensive players and offensive players are also noteworthy. Not to mention that the attention to detail for this mannequin challenge video is above average and tells a story and it’s the effort level that makes this video worth every second.
#1- Colony High School
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-sfe21zH9c4
In what is thought to be the original mannequin challenge video, the 60-second Colony High School mannequin video really shows the life of high school kids in freeze-frame bits and pieces. In this video you see high school kids outside playing, some working out in the weight room, others frozen in time in the hallway, and much more. You also see a classroom full of high school kids sitting at their desk, standing up as if they were going to walk out of class and some with their backpacks on getting ready to sit down in their chairs. The Colony High School mannequin video, which has now over 80,000 views, comes in at number one because this is where it all started.
These are just some of the best mannequin challenge videos out there on the Internet so far. You can find all of these videos plus more at various social media websites such as Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. You also can find most of them uploaded through YouTube as well. While some viral trends make sense when you look back on them, people are still rather confused about why you would participate in the mannequin challenge. When you see these videos you realize that it almost is like you are taking a picture. The difference being that you can see the freeze-frame in real life as opposed to on your camera. Some of these mannequin challenges also take a lot of skill, especially those in the middle of an athletic event or exercise routine. Regardless of how you feel about the mannequin challenge, you are likely going to be seeing more of them for weeks to come, until a new viral video trend emerges.
