What would you do if…’: Viral question is bringing some couples closer. It’s breaking up others. Ask your partner if you dare

The internet loves nothing more than a spicy-hot hypothetical question that gets everyone arguing. Especially if the controversy is about something like gender.

One woman asking such a hypothetical turned the conversation into a viral debate.

‘All the women disappeared and you’re the last one?’

Pinkpill Rx podcast host Katie Fillmore (@kators88) shares a video where she asks her husband, Jay Fillmore, what he would do if he were the only man left on earth. Her video has more than 1.2 million views.

The video begins with Fillmore asking her husband, “If you woke up and you were the only man left on earth, what would you do?”

“I’ll be like, I’m glad so many of them know me already, first of all,” Jay says. When Fillmore asks whether he meant the women, he says, “Yeah. How would I feel? Like, I would miss my friends.”

Then Fillmore asks him to put the same question to her.

“How would you feel if all the women—oh God,” Jay says, as text on the screen reads, “the moment he realizes.” His expression changes to one of visible dismay.

“All the women disappeared and you’re the last one?” he asks. “Oh, no … That’s horrifying. That’s terrifying.”

Fillmore asks him what he’d want her to do in that scenario.

“Hide. Hide,” Jay says. He asks what she would want him to do if he were the last man.

She responds, “I would say enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, you could be ruled by women.”

“I know that I could probably just relax,” Jay says, concluding the video.

In the caption, Fillmore writes, “This viral question turned into a full blown discussion … It was a very Man Vs. Bear moment.”

‘I envy your husbands empathy’

Fillmore’s female viewers flocked to her comment section to share their visceral reactions.

“I envy your husbands empathy and understanding of women’s issues and fears,” one commented.

Another wrote, “Well this was deeply profound and painful…”

One comment drew more than 11,400 likes.

“If I woke up and there were only men.. There wouldn’t be any women bc I’m not staying,” it said.

Another said, “Relaxation versus absolute terror. Basically.”

However, some viewers seemed to experience trouble in paradise due to Fillmore’s video. One woman appeared to be considering ending her relationship, thanks to how her man handled the same hypothetical.

“I asked my partner and he said ‘you’d be a busy girl,’” she commented. “I should be single right?!”

Other commenters overwhelmingly responded in the affirmative, with one person simply responding, “Immediately.”

“I’ll give you an answer,” another wrote. “Your man answering like that means that if you were tthe only woman left on Earth, and you’re still with him, he’s going to offer you to EVERYONE to be a breeding horse. RUN! LEAVE!!!”

The original commenter responded that she was “actually devastated” about the situation, and the choice she now faces.

“Genuinely heart broken that he answered this way,” she wrote. “So, so upset.”

What’s the broader context of these kinds of gender hypotheticals?

Gender discourse is a common focal point of man-on-the-street content, and Fillmore’s caption points to the “man vs. bear” debate, which dominated TikTok in spring 2024.

Forbes reported on a video from the pop culture account Screenshot HQ. The account owner asked eight women whether they would rather be stuck in a forest with a man or a bear. Seven chose the bear, “stating that a man may pose more potential danger than the wild animal—and the trend is sparking conversations about violence against women.”

CNN also reported that women who chose the bear said they knew the dangers of a bear, but that people would believe them if one attacked. Despite significant male-driven backlash online, some men also chose the bear. Critics called the question “misandrist” and “an excuse to freely hate on men.”

Rosalba Morese, a psychology and social neuroscience researcher at Switzerland’s Università della Svizzera italiana, told the university in May 2024 that dilemmas like these center on fear. She linked the pattern of women choosing the bear to gender-based violence.

The United Nations reported that about 89,000 women and girls were intentionally killed in acts of gender-based violence in 2022.

“The figure represents the highest yearly number recorded in the past two decades,” the United Nations wrote. “Data … suggests that the increase in female homicides occurred despite a drop in the overall number of homicides … Women and girls in all regions experience this gender-based violence.”

By contrast, Forbes reports that the National Park Service calls bear attacks “rare.”

This story is republished with permission. It originally appeared on Subplot News.