THE 100 MEN VS. 1 GORILLA DEBATE: A GIRL’S ATTEMPT AT UNDERSTANDING THE BOY MIND

I had no idea that the “100 Men vs. 1 Gorilla” debate was going viral on TikTok. Maybe because it’s mostly just a bunch of guys making ridiculous (and somewhat funny) edits of how they would either single-handedly bring glory to all men or die a heroic death as a sacrifice. It wasn’t until one of my guy friends told me that I HAD to learn about this debate and write about it.

As you can probably tell, I caved and am now trying to understand and process this whole trend. Being a girl and all, I genuinely can’t understand why this topic was ever mentioned in the first place. I know I’ve heard this trend rewritten like twenty times in the past five years. 

Because I lack the knowledge and “competence” to write such an article by myself, I’ve enlisted the help of one of my guy friends. While he remains anonymous, I’ll list my friend’s credentials so you know he’s qualified:

1. He’s part of a professional fraternity 
2. He wears flip-flops to class with jeans
3. He likes Lebron
4. His TikTok reposts are extremely questionable

According to him, there are some assumptions we need to lay out before we go anywhere near the claim and argument. Think of this article as an outline to an argumentative essay you’d write in English class. He’s laid out some “basics” that I haven’t even given thought to. To say the least, this is the hardest I’ve ever seen him think. 

Assumptions: 

1. The gorilla is a silverback gorilla.
2. The 100 men are composed of a random sample of 100 men in the United States.
3. The men must be willing to give it their all despite experiencing fear and pain. 
4. The battlefield is relatively big (maybe like two and a half basketball courts in area) and flat (no trees or things that the gorilla can use to climb).

Now that the assumptions are laid out, let’s get to his claim: 100 men could defeat a gorilla in a fight. As for his main arguments, he mentions the numerical advantage and the stamina advantage. If you’re still here and engaged with this article, I’m assuming it’s because you find this topic interesting. If that’s the case, get ready for some real “deep” and “thoughtful” analysis. 

The numerical advantage

This is the idea that men have an advantage because of their greater number of bodies. According to him, “I don’t think people understand the weight of how much 100 actually is.” To me, this is a pretty valid thought, but I still wonder if the strength of these random men could overpower a whole gorilla. His main argument for the numbers advantage relies on the concept that the majority of people cannot comprehend how many people 100 men actually are. A gorilla may be big and strong, but one large gorilla versus 100 differently sized men is quite the comparison. 

The stamina advantage

Before mentioning anything, he’d like to preface that “a silverback gorilla is terrifying.” Clearly, he’s rational. To put this idea in perspective: a silverback gorilla weighs an average of 400 pounds, can stand up to five feet tall, lift up to 1763 pounds, and has thick skin and strong bones. Honestly, those statistics alone make me wary about the results.

Besides the gorilla’s physical build, they are also “super explosive.” With the gorilla being able to exert lots of energy in quick bursts, it’s no doubt that men would go flying by the swing of the gorilla’s arm.

This would be an ideal situation for the gorilla and its victory, but in reality, gorillas aren’t fit for prolonged energy exertion, especially constant offense and defense. Its reign of terror on the first group of men would come to a quick end. 

Though the men would get tired in the same way, there would be 100 of them, meaning not all of them would be exerting the same amount of energy. In the wise words of my friend, “So when the gorilla starts to get tired and cannot exert any energy, it’s cooked for the gorilla and ez dubs for the men.”

If all of that information wasn’t enough, my friend goes even more in-depth with strategy. To save you time and brainpower, I’ll summarize it: 

1. Go in groups of 10-15 men in rounds.  
2. 2-3 should attack the eyes.  
3. 2-3 should attack the legs (this could potentially immobilize the gorilla).
4. 2-3 should go for the gorilla’s nether regions (“gorillas are also sensitive”).
5. 2-3 should choke it and hit its head.
6. 2-3 should just start trucking the gorilla and hitting its body 

After all of that, there’s even more. In the wise (and final) words of my friend, “the gorilla might think to do both arms out and start spinning like a maniac move. Lowkey, this move is op. If the men try to attack the gorilla while it’s doing this, it’s ggs. Although humans can’t run faster than a gorilla, they can definitely run faster than a gorilla doing a double arm spinning like a maniac move, so just avoid it while it’s doing this. Overall, the most important thing again is that these men are willing to give it everything they’ve got. Willing to literally even die to defeat this gorilla. The gorilla is EASILY going to wipe out like 20-30 people, but despite seeing this, the men have to be strong mentally.” 

I think it’s so interesting how the male mind functions. It’s truly amazing how they have the time to make these elaborate points for such a useless debate when their efforts could be put towards something more important (like maybe getting a job!)

News stations, celebrities, and even AI all being a part of this trend is honestly quite impressive. I think after doing my research and interviewing my guy friend, I’ve learned more about what interests a boy. The simple, crazy, and dumb topics will always be in trend among the male community. 

• 1 gorilla vs 100 men
• college
• debate
• entertainment
• tiktok
• trend