The Feeling Nuts movement is a social media campaign created by Check One Two in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, to encourage young men to regularly check their testicles for early signs of testicular cancer. The campaign went viral when the public and celebrities began sharing pictures and videos of crotch grabs using the hashtag #feelingnuts and became an annual TV event on

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

. The campaign involves both

social media Social media are interactive media technologies that facilitate the creation and sharing of information, ideas, interests, and other forms of expression through virtual communities and networks. While challenges to the definition of ''social medi ...

and television.

Origins

Feeling Nuts was created by brothers and founders of Salter Brothers Entertainment, Simon and Andrew Salter after being inspired by Wendy Gough, a mother who lost her son to testicular cancer in 1998 simply because he was too embarrassed to discuss it. Gough has conducted awareness talks in schools ever since her son's death which left a lasting impression on the Salter brothers. They realised that raising money wasn't necessary to stop men dying of testicular cancer and therefore created a new currency through social awareness. In an interview with ''

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'', the brothers stated that "young guys don’t want to listen to charities lecturing them so we took a different approach" creating the social movement organisation Check One Two and devising its first campaign 'Feeling Nuts'. In an interview with ''

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'' Andrew explained: "Our mission is to empower people to spread awareness of this preventable cancer and change behavior to check themselves regularly. We firmly believe that this social movement, designed to save lives, will get the nation talking about this taboo subject and by using entertainment around the #feelingnuts campaign, ultimately, save lives." On 10 April 2014, Check One Two launched the hashtag #FeelingNuts to promote the Testicular Cancer Awareness Month and encouraged men to regularly check themselves for testicular cancer. On 12 June 2014, the Check One Two YouTube channel uploaded a video titled "Are You #FeelingNuts", challenging viewers to share pictures of themselves grabbing their crotch with the hashtag #FeelingNuts to raise awareness about testicular cancer. The tipping point for Feeling Nuts arrived in August 2014 when the brothers dropped their trousers in

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in London and took a

selfie A selfie () is a self-portrait photograph, typically taken with a digital camera or smartphone, which may be held in the hand or supported by a selfie stick. Selfies are often shared on social media, via social networking services such as F ...

grabbing their crotches, receiving 4,864

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s and 13,507 favourites on

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. Using #feelingnuts, they started a monthly call to action for men to check themselves regularly and then issued an online challenge to boyband 5 Seconds Of Summer and

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's son Sam Branson, who took it up. Soon more celebrities started to challenge each other including

Hugh Jackman Hugh Michael Jackman (born 12 October 1968) is an Australian actor. Beginning in theatre and television, he landed his breakthrough role as James "Logan" Howlett / Wolverine in the 20th Century Fox ''X-Men'' film series (2000–2017), a role ...

William Shatner William Shatner (born March 22, 1931) is a Canadian actor. In a career spanning seven decades, he is best known for his portrayal of James T. Kirk in the ''Star Trek'' franchise, from his 1965 debut as the captain of the starship USS Enterpri ...

Ricky Gervais Ricky Dene Gervais ( ; born 25 June 1961) is an English comedian, actor, writer, and director. He co-created, co-wrote, and acted in the British television sitcoms ''The Office'' (2001–2003), '' Extras'' (2005–2007), and '' An Idiot Abroad' ...

, chef

Jamie Oliver James Trevor Oliver MBE OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and open many restaurants. Oliver reache ...

and fashion model

Cara Delevingne Cara Jocelyn Delevingne ( ; born 12 August 1992) is an English model and actress. She signed with Storm Management after leaving school in 2009. Delevingne won Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards in 2012 and 2014. Delevingne sta ...

. In October 2014 the campaign went viral and social media monitoring company

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estimated that within 3 months, the campaign had reached at least 750 million people globally in addition to thousands of media stories.

The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night

On 17 September 2014 it was announced that the brothers had joined forces with Channel 4 to launch an annual 90-minute comedy TV event called ''The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night'' designed to raise awareness of testicular cancer. The inaugural show premiered on 24 October 2014 and was hosted by comedian

Jack Whitehall Jack Peter Benedict Whitehall (born 7 July 1988) is an English comedian, actor, presenter and writer. He is known for starring as JP in the series ''Fresh Meat (TV series), Fresh Meat'' (2011–2016) and Alfie Wickers in the series ''Bad Educat ...

as well as featuring comedy sketches from

Jimmy Carr James Anthony Patrick Carr (born 15 September 1972) is a British-Irish comedian, presenter, writer, and actor. He is known for his deadpan delivery of controversial one-liners and distinctive laugh, for which he has been both praised and criti ...

One Direction One Direction, often shortened to 1D, are an English-Irish pop boy band formed in London in 2010. The group are composed of Niall Horan, Liam Payne, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson, and previously Zayn Malik until his departure from the gr ...

and musical performances from

James Corden James Kimberley Corden (born 22 August 1978) is an English television host, actor, comedian, and singer. In the United Kingdom, he is best known for co-writing and starring in the critically acclaimed BBC sitcom ''Gavin & Stacey''. In the Un ...

and

Rizzle Kicks Rizzle Kicks are a British hip hop duo from Brighton, England, consisting of Jordan "Rizzle" Stephens (born 25 January 1992) and Harley "Sylvester" Alexander-Sule (born 1991). Their debut album, '' Stereo Typical'', was released in 2011. As o ...

. The show also reunited

Martin Clunes Alexander Martin Clunes OBE DL (born 28 November 1961) is an English actor, comedian, director and television presenter. He is best known for portraying Martin Ellingham in the ITV comedy-drama series ''Doc Martin'' and Gary Strang in ''Men Be ...

and

Neil Morrissey Neil Anthony Morrissey (born 4 July 1962) is an English actor. He is known for his role as Tony in ''Men Behaving Badly''. Other notable acting roles include Deputy Head Eddie Lawson in the BBC One school-based drama series '' Waterloo Road'', ...

for a new ''

Men Behaving Badly ''Men Behaving Badly'' is a Television in the United Kingdom, British British sitcom, sitcom that was created and written by Simon Nye. It follows the lives of Gary Strang (Martin Clunes) and his flatmates Dermot Povey (Harry Enfield; series 1 ...

'' sketch for the first time in over 15 years. The Feeling Nuts Comedy Night inaugural event was a success, easily beating and over doubling the channel's slot average.

References

External links

* {{Official website, http://checkonetwo.co.uk/ 2010s British television series 2010s fads and trends 2014 in British television 2014 television specials Cancer awareness Cancer in the United Kingdom Channel 4 original programming Challenges Internet memes introduced in 2014