Woman Goes to a Bathroom With Underwater Views, but There's a Problem

🎙️ Voice is AI-generated. Inconsistencies may occur.

A video of a fish "watching" a woman in a bathroom in Australia has gone viral on TikTok.

The clip was shared by Darithy Kim (@darithykim) and has had 1.6 million views since it was posted on February 26. According to the post, the footage was captured on Daydream Island, an island among the Whitsunday Islands in the Australian state of Queensland.

A voice in the clip says "this guy" as the footage shows a large fish floating in turquoise waters behind a glass wall inside what appears to be an underwater bathroom setting.

The camera shows a shot of the toilet as the voice says "I need to pee but...he's just watching me, how weird," before showing a view of the fish again as the clip ends.

A caption shared with the post reads: "Stage fright at its finest."

@darithykim

Stage fright at its finest ?

♬ original sound - Darithy Kim

The poster's self-conscious feeling in the latest viral clip is understandable as fish have been shown to interact with humans.

A March 2021 study of fish, published in Animals, found that "individual fish displayed unique interaction patterns, with some frequently engaging in tactile interaction and others only periodically or rarely doing so."

The study's analysis of video data showed that overall, koi, a type of fish, "spent more time than expected in close proximity to the human and even sought out physical contact."

The study's findings demonstrated that captive carp, another type of fish, "can and do seek out physical contact with a familiar human and that they show individual differences in interaction patterns."

As awkward as it might feel to be staring at a fish while using the bathroom, "some research has associated viewing fish in aquariums with positive well-being outcomes," noted a July 2019 study in PLOS One.

The study, which showed preliminary support for effects on mood, pain, nutritional intake and body weight, found that "interacting with fish in aquariums has the potential to benefit human well-being."

'Performance Anxiety'

Users on TikTok were amused by the latest viral clip.

Moxxion noted: "when you realise the window wasn't put in for you to watch the fish but for the fish to watch you."

Booping_Noises said: "It's like one of those dreams where u just need to go to the bathroom but weird stuff keeps happening."

Someone wrote the fish must have been saying "Don't mind me," while Nikhil noted the fish is saying "'cmon ! Do your thing!!!"

Ruth L. said: "I have performance anxiety."

callme.giuseppe wrote: "I don't have stage fright but this would scare me."

User @izabrio said: "he's just standing there... menacingly!!"

Ellessem noted: "Ma'am you're in his house."

Newsweek has contacted the original poster for comment via TikTok. This video has not been independently verified.

Glass-walled bathroom with ocean view.
A stock image of a glass-walled bathroom with an ocean view. A video of a woman who was met by an unexpected guest in an underwater bathroom on Australia's Daydream Island has gone viral on... iStock / Getty Images Plus

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About the writer

Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in travel, health, home/interior design and property/real estate. Soo covered the COVID-19 pandemic extensively from 2020 to 2022, including several interviews with the chief medical advisor to the president, Dr. Anthony Fauci. Soo has reported on various major news events, including the Black Lives Matter movement, the U.S. Capitol riots, the war in Afghanistan, the U.S. and Canadian elections, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Soo is also a South Korea expert, covering the latest K-dramas—including the breakout hit Squid Game, which she has covered extensively, including from Seoul, the South Korean capital—as well as Korean films, such as the Golden Globe and Oscar-nominated Past Lives, and K-pop news, to interviews with the biggest Korean actors, such as Lee Jung-jae from Squid Game and Star Wars, and Korean directors, such as Golden Globe and Oscar nominee Celine Song. Soo is the author of the book How to Live Korean, which is available in 11 languages, and co-author of the book Hello, South Korea: Meet the Country Behind Hallyu. Before Newsweek, Soo was a travel reporter and commissioning editor for the award-winning travel section of The Daily Telegraph (a leading U.K. national newspaper) for nearly a decade from 2010, reporting on the latest in the travel industry, from travel news, consumer travel and aviation issues to major new openings and emerging destinations. Soo is a graduate of Binghamton University in New York and the journalism school of City University in London, where she earned a Masters in international journalism. You can get in touch with Soo by emailing s.kim@newsweek.com . Follow her on Instagram at @miss.soo.kim or X, formerly Twitter, at @MissSooKim .Languages spoken: English and Korean


Soo Kim is a Newsweek reporter based in London, U.K. She covers various lifestyle stories, specializing in Read more