Henrik Christiansen is a three-time Olympian swimmer, but if you don’t follow the sport you might know him better as the muffin man. The Norwegian athlete became an internet sensation during the Paris Olympics this summer, when his TikTok content about the Olympic village’s chocolate muffins went viral.
“I’ve never thought about social media as ‘creating content’ before the summer,” Christiansen told CORQ. He now has a TikTok audience of more than 504,000, as well as 28.2 million likes, and an Instagram following of 42,600.
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After seeing the popularity of the Tokyo Olympics on TikTok, Christiansen travelled to the games in Paris with a plan in mind. “I had some different ideas I wanted to do – I was going to show off the village, I was going to make some funny videos with the clothes and all the free stuff we got, and I also wanted to review the food,” he says. He made a video rating some of the Olympic village meals, including the now famous chocolate muffin (he scored it 11 out of ten), which people in the comments were intrigued by. “Then I thought ‘okay, I think I have something here’,” he says.
What followed was a series of comedic posts about his love of the muffins. One TikTok using a trending audio gained more than 18.4 million views, 2.6 million likes and 62,000 favourites. Another clip of Christiansen strolling with four muffins has had more than 12 million views, and a comment that reads “the only Olympic village love story that matters” has had more than 203,000 likes. “At a certain point I ran out of ideas. But at that point I could post myself just holding a muffin and I’d probably get a million views. It felt weird being like king of the world for a few days,” he laughs.
@henrikchristians1 Olympic Village food review! A little surprise at the end too! Smash like and subscribe for part 2✌🏻 #fyp #olympics #paris2024 #olympictiktok #olympicvillage #foodreview @Olympics @paris2024 @Mr.Nicho
His cult social following also led to a boost in brand interest. Since the Olympics, Henriksen was invited to an NFL game in London, created an ad for Norwegian spa hotel The Well and promoted Adidas’ trainers Climacool 24 (one comment said “this is the only ad I’ve ever liked on TikTok”). He also attended Hugo Boss’ Milan fashion show and created three sponsored posts about the event – his GRWM TikTok has had more than 370,000 views and 48,900 likes. “It didn’t feel like I should be there, but at the same time I was there making content for them, I wasn’t there just watching,” he says.
Christiansen knows his muffin content has an expiration date, and has been branching out by creating other comedy content, which has been received well by his highly engaged audience. “I love making people laugh and I feel like I’m a bit of a clown. It’s the perfect creative outlet for me to be able to express some of some of my personality,” he says. The athlete participated in theatre when he was a child, but later chose to focus on his swimming – now he has a foot in both camps.
@henrikchristians1 My new favorite sneaker, the brand new Adidas Climacool 24. I feel like I can do LITERALLY everything in these! #ad #adidas #climacool24 @adidas
From his first Olympics in Rio in 2016, social media has changed massively, and athletes are now expected to share more than just polished shots on top of podiums. “During the past few years, sport has become more of a form of entertainment,” he says, and credits social media as a contributing factor. “In sports you need to make something that has value for someone, so if I’m not doing well in my sport, I can still add value to someone else’s life by being funny on social media or by producing something people want to watch,” Christiansen says. When he eventually retires from swimming, he envisions a career in media.
He is currently on a break from swimming after the Olympics, something that was planned long before a certain chocolate muffin entered his life. “I’m using that break to try to make the most of the social media stuff that I can – I’m saying yes to basically everything,” he says. In fact, the bakery that provided the original muffins has been in contact with the Olympian – “I’m looking forward to seeing what we are able to come up with,” he says. With the amount of engagement around Christiansen and the muffins, it’s sure to be a hit.
By Dina Zubi, news and features writer for CORQ.
