Born to be a Darshen, forced to be a Samuel
TikTok’s latest viral duo wants to shift focus.
Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.
I’m a Samuel, it must be said. —Kate
TIL that sororities and fraternities have chefs and that the chefs are potentially feuding??
What comes after a viral video? Ten years ago, a video that got 25 million views could lead to an Ellen interview, a Saturday Night Live parody, and even a reality TV show spinoff. In 2025, that’s just a Friday on TikTok. So when Darshen, a content creator from Singapore, had his brush with virality back in April, he wanted to use the moment wisely.
Darshen and his friend Samuel were traveling through Europe when they decided to jump on a recent trend that compares Type A and Type B travelers on vacation. Samuel is the one who books the flights, finds the hotels, and makes the restaurant reservations. Darshen? Well:
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While Darshen may not be the most proactive traveler, off-camera, he works hard with the children of Tondo, Manila. It’s this work that he’s using his newfound 1.4 million followers to highlight, with Samuel along for (and, of course, meticulously planning) the ride. In this interview, Darshen and Samuel tell me about going viral, how it’s changed their lives, and what’s next on the itinerary.
Who are you both outside of TikTok?
Samuel: I'm a family physician based in Singapore. I've been practicing for over 10 years. I'm primarily a family physician. I came to social media mainly to educate people during COVID—until I met Darshen, and that's when I started doing some lifestyle content during the Europe trip. And Darshen is a famous international sensation.
Darshen: I used to be cabin crew, and then after, because of the pandemic, I started creating content on TikTok primarily. And then after that, I had a job offer to join one of the local media companies in Singapore. And then very recently, about two years ago, I left the media company to pursue content creation full-time independently. My audience has always been in Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines. After going to Europe with Sam, we hit a whole new audience. I'm really, really grateful and thankful for the love. I aspire to be an actor and also hopefully have a foundation of my own where I'll be able to provide education for children in the less fortunate communities. That's my main goal and my dream.
So was it during the Europe trip that you first started going viral for this?
Darshen: Yes, actually. This Europe trip that we were on, I didn't expect that the video would go so viral. People just related to that concept for some reason. It's maybe the smile. All I did was just smile, because that's what I know to do. Like when Samuel tells me we are going on a nature hike, I just smile at him. I'm like, "Uh-huh, okay." You know? So that's just what I did. And I think people caught that authenticity. They felt like that that smile was really real because he doesn't know what is going on. He doesn't know what's happening. All he can just do is just smile.
Samuel: The funny thing is that we weren't intending to film any content. I only do medical content. So when Darshen suggested we film, I was like, okay, I'll help him for his channel. So that's when we started, and it started off because it was raining really heavily in Germany and we couldn't see anything in the Black Forest, so we decided to film something at home. So it started with that.
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And did it go viral immediately?
Darshen: I have had my fair share of viral videos before, and so I remember when I first posted that video, and within that first hour, I think it got like over 200k views. And then I looked at Sam, I was like, “Okay, I think this might hit a million views.” Then Sam was like, “You know what? I think you should do a part two to this.”
Samuel: He didn't want to do it. He didn't trust me. I was the one who told him he should do six parts of this.
Darshen: And I was like, there's no way people are gonna wanna watch a six part series of this. But he was the one who was encouraging. He assured me that, you know, at the end of the day, you have nothing to lose. You just gotta try and you never know where it will get you. I think that was such a powerful reminder. So the next day, I saw that it really did hit one million views. And then the second video did even better than the first video. So I was like, sold by that. I was like, oh my God, this is what happens when you actually try.
Samuel: I told him, just make sure you put all the nice places I bring you into the scenery in the background.
And it's so funny because as a result of this, you're characters now. People are like, “I'm a Samuel.” “I'm a Darshen.” What has that been like?
Samuel: We met a lot of people in the randomest places. We didn't feel much of the virality initially, so we reached Dubrovnik, Croatia. We stayed there for three nights. We were still able to do crazy things like doing the shame walk with a bell down the stairs, and no one recognized us back then. And then by the third night, we were seated for dinner, several people came up to Darshen to take photos because they saw his video the night before. So it really trended really fast. And [we’d say] "Who's the Samuel and who's the Darshen in the relationship?" And then Darshen will look at the Samuel and say, like, "Why aren't you carrying her bag?" And then they sheepishly laugh. In the randomest spaces, I remember when we were in a cable car going up a mountain, in our tour bus to Croatia, we met people who knew who he was and what he embodied.
One of the things you used this moment for, Darshen, is to talk about the work you do with children. I'd love to hear a bit more about that.
Darshen: Yeah. I think it's because—oh, I didn't mean to get emotional thinking about this. I've always wanted to shed light on these communities, because I've shed light before. I thought, since so many people are eyeballing the profiles now, I wanted to use this opportunity to really shed light on communities that really need it. For example, I feel so much for Tondo because they need to be seen and need to be supported and want to be heard. And I got really emotional because it also went viral. It felt really fulfilling to know that it was turned into something about making the world a better place and helping communities that really need it. And it was not just about, my name is Samuel and my name is Darshen, even though that was great, but [also] communities that needed the spotlight. And that's why I felt so, so happy about it.
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That's amazing. And my last question is just that one of the things your audience loves is seeing you guys go on trips. Do you have any new trips planned?
Samuel: Actually, you can answer.
Darshen: I wouldn't know, Sam. Sam plans it, and then he would just let me know what time to be at the airport.
Welcome to the weekly scroll, a roundup of articles, links, and other thoughts from being on the internet this week! Ahead: a monetized eating disorder group chat, AI book hallucinations, and a first-hand account from an air traffic controller at Newark.
What I’m consuming…
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