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Lauryn D’Agostino and boyfriend Devin Murphy, of Litchfield, are going viral for their gag-inducing pranks on the video-sharing app.
D’Agostino, 33, says her sensitive gag reflex was something her sister used to prank her about when they were young.
Then, one day this year, Murphy asked D'Agostino if he could record her watching a video of a baby gagging to see if she'd have a similar reaction. Spoiler alert: She did.
"It went viral, D’Agostino said. "We were in shock."
D’Agostino owns a marketing company and works with local businesses in the area.
While she said much of her work has centered around Instagram and Facebook, when TikTok became popular, she decided she wanted to learn the algorithm.
So, D’Agostino said she set up an account in Murphy’s name to test it out. The account name is BigDaddyDMurph, which she said is a reference to a nickname Murphy’s teammates gave him when he was an athlete.
The couple couldn't quite figure out the algorithm, but realized that going viral was simpler than they thought.
"Everyone just wants to laugh," D’Agostino said.
Including D’Agostino herself, who doesn't take herself or her boyfriend's antics too seriously.
After the success of the first viral video, Murphy started looking for new ways to make D’Agostino gag -- although she added that they only record the videos about once a week.
D'Agostino also said some people question whether the gagging is real or fake, but she confirmed that it's real. Going to the dentist for a routine cleaning and hearing the sound of gagging can set it off.
Their most popular video is one of D’Agostino at a wedding in a hot pink dress.
Murphy comes over with his camera, and D’Agostino already knows what he's up to.
"Don't start we're at a wedding Dev," she says.
"You look beautiful in your dress, I hope you don't throw up on it when I got like this: *dry heaves."
Sure enough, D’Agostino starts gagging, too. That video racked up 8.4 million views.
Another video of D’Agostino taking out the trash had 1.3 million views. In another video, Murphy and friends are saying the word "Tito's" repeatedly, causing D'Augustino to gag. That video has 2.2 million views.
“I can’t watch any of the TikTok videos without turning the volume down," D’Agostino added.
While the couple gets some comments from people concerned about her and the pranks, she said that they’ve mostly seen very positive responses from people who said the video brought a smile to their face.
“We’re just rolling with it,” D’Agostino said. “We’re happy to see that we’re making people laugh.”
D’Agostino and Murphy have recently been accepted into TikTok creator marketplace, and the success of her channel has been helpful for her small Connecticut business.
“My childhood weakness has turned into my TikTok superpower,” she laughed.
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