The holiday season has been leveled up with a new challenge referred to as, “Whamageddon,” and we’re getting a taste of just how seriously players are taking it.
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The viral game requires players to avoid hearing the song, “Last Christmas,” by Wham! for the first 24 days of December. Complete with an online community and established set of rules, the challenge continues to grow in popularity.
The hashtag #whamageddon has been used 11 million times on Instagram this year, according to the group.
"And we've only just gotten half way through December," the group wrote on its official Facebook page.
"It's absolutely mind blowing and we have all you wonderful people to thank for it. You are all amazing and we love sharing whamageddon with you."
DJ Matt Facer found out, first-hand, just how seriously people take it when he played the song during a highly attended, U.K. soccer match and took approximately 7,000 players out of the game.
While it sounds like it’s all in good fun, Facer says he received spiteful messages from attendees and ended up feeling it necessary to issue an official apology. “I never knew people took it so seriously,” he disclosed to BBC following the game. “I gave it a spin, thinking it would be quite funny to wipe out 7,000 people who couldn’t avoid it, but clearly it isn’t funny.”
He continued, "I had a bit of an insult on Twitter, light-hearted, [saying] it was not a nice thing to do, and apparently that was quite tame to what was being said in the stadium. I don’t think I’ll be playing it again. I think it’s a shame people in professions like mine can’t play Wham! until [late] December, but it’s a game and we all have to jump on board.”