The Muffin Man Is the Secret Breakout Star of the Olympics

To make a name for yourself in the Olympics you either need to perform incredible athletic feats – or really like muffins. That last one really only applies to Henrik Christiansen, a Norwegian swimmer whose love of the chocolate muffins in the Olympic Village has taken on a life of its own.

Christiansen’s love affair with the Olympic muffins started last Thursday when he posted a TikTok rating the food in the Olympic Village. During that first video, he rated the muffin “Insane 11/10” compared to his pesto pasta and pork skewer (7/10), shrimp dumplings (8/10) and chicken gyoza (6/10). With that TikTok, the Muffin Man was born.

Since then, 11 of the Christiansen’s last 17 videos have been about these muffins. Christiansen’s muffin content never follows any strict rules. Sometimes it delves into pop culture, like when he reenacted the walking animation from “Grand Theft Auto” but with muffins or put his own baked good spin on the zipline sketch from “I think You Should Leave.”

Other times it leans into TikTok trends, like when it used the “Brother, ew” meme. Christiansen even posted a TikTok publicly apologizing for exploiting the muffins (that video ended with a muffin tying him up).

These videos have blown up. The most viewed one is the aforementioned “I Think You Should Leave” spoof, which has been viewed 13.8 million times and liked 2.1 million times. Nearly every one of Christiansen’s muffin-centric posts have cleared a million views with many ranging from 3 to 7 million views. The rest of the Olympic Village has noticed, and they’ve been expanding this lore.

Christiansen’s videos inspired American hurdler Ebony Morrison to try the treats, even though she doesn’t like chocolate. By her video’s end, she declared the treat “bussin.” American swimmers Abbey Weitzeil and Torri Huske, British runner Lina Nielsen, American volleyball player Erik Shoji and Mongolian swimmer Enkhkhuslen Batbayar have also all given the pastry rave reviews.

Singaporean swimmer Quah Jing Wen took a different approach, filming herself reaching for the muffins before backing off because she didn’t want to steal them “from that one Norwegian swimmer.” Quah eventually snagged a couple treats for herself.

It’s hard to know if Christiansen is right and the chocolate muffin is in fact “The single greatest thing about the Olympic Village.” But one thing’s for certain: Christiansen and these muffins have brought the world together. And isn’t that what the Olympics are about?

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