FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — A Fayetteville man has proven that TikTok trends involve two key ingredients: a cute critter and spontaneous encounters.
Robert Bishop, a music director at KUAF Radio, received over 6.6 million views from a video of a critter poking its nose in the hole of his bedroom floor.
"We have no idea where the hole came from. I honestly don’t remember it being there when we moved in because I would have noticed," Bishop said.
Bishop said the hole leads down to his crawl space. He tried investigating further to figure out what kind of animal it would be, so he put some food down in the crawl space next to another camera.
Although he never figured out for sure what species his new friend was, he says a raccoon or groundhog seemed to be the "most likely culprits."
Bishop originally posted the video to his Instagram to see which animal his friends thought his "new downstairs neighbor" might be.
"After a lot of them sent me DMs, I thought people on TikTok would like it too," he said. "I knew it would get attention, but after 10K, I was really shocked. It just kept growing too! Getting to 1 million was wild, but then it was 2, 3, 4, 5 million and going. But, I get it though, it’s a guessing game and people are excited trying to figure it out."
He didn't think it would be as big of a hit as it was, but he learned that TikTok, just like his new friend, is a mystery.
"I learned that you never know what’s going to hit so might as well upload things ... people love animals, as well as a mystery," Bishop said.
Bishop's TikTok page is full of bats, possums, and cats. Though, he hasn't had any other unexpected guests recently.
"Growing up in Arkansas, I have always enjoyed encounters with various varmints," he said. "I often go out of my way to find or engage with them because it’s just one of those special things in life — when you connect with a wild animal."
He has even raised a possum before and currently has five cats with his fiancé!
Watch 5NEWS on YouTube.
Download the 5NEWS app on your smartphone:
Stream 5NEWS 24/7 on the 5+ app: How to watch the 5+ app on your streaming device
To report a typo or grammatical error, please email KFSMDigitalTeam@tegna.com and detail which story you're referring to.