Man behind blinking guy meme finally reveals himself and he looks unrecognizable eight years on

If you’re on social media then you’ve seen Drew Scanlon’s face. In fact, you’ve probably used it to react to something.

A GIF of Drew blinking repeatedly in disbelief first went viral in 2017and now, eight years on, it’s still commonly used by people online who want to show their incredulity.

But social media users across the globe were recently left stunned after discovering what the man in the ‘blinking guy’ meme looks like now.

Drew took to X, formerly Twitterto urge people to donate to the National MS Society earlier this week, and his post went viral, gaining more than 21 million views, 408,000 likes, and 38,000 retweets.

‘Hi Internet! I’m Drew and this is my face,’ he wrote, alongside the GIF that made him famous.

‘If this GIF has ever brought you joy in the past, I humbly ask you to consider making a donation to the National MS Society. It would mean a lot to me and to those I know affected by the disease.’

While many people applauded him for using his platform for good in the replies, others shared their shock upon uncovering who the man behind their favorite meme was.

‘Nice to put a face to the blink,’ one user joked.

A GIF of Drew Scanlon blinking repeatedly in disbelief first went viral in 2017, and now, eight years on, it’s still commonly used by people online who want to show their incredulity

But social media users across the globe were recently left stunned after discovering what the man in the ‘blinking guy’ meme looks like now. He’s seen recently

‘(You’ve been) in my top three GIF rotation for the last three years, hands down. You get a follow. Thanks for your contribution to digital humanity,’ wrote another.

‘I use you ALL the time,’ replied someone else. ‘I just realized how that sounds LOL.’

‘Wow. Never thought I would find the face behind a meme on my timeline,’ read a fourth tweet.

A fifth said, ‘Not all heroes wear capes, some just blink confusedly.’

Others commented on how much he has changed since the meme first went viral, with one shocked fan writing, ‘You have lost so much weight!’

Some people professed that they always thought the man in the meme was Dexter actor Michael C. Hall or The Princess Bride star Cary Elwes.

Drew, who worked as a video editor for Giant Bomb for more than eight years, from San Francisco, previously revealed that the meme was recorded at the gaming reviews website in 2013, when he participated in an episode of the company’s Unprofessional Fridays show.

The now-infamous clip was the result of a moment when, while playing an adventure game that involved a spot of farming, another team member said he was ‘farming with my hoe here.’

Drew (seen recently) took to X, formerly Twitter , to urge people to donate to the National MS Society earlier this week, and his post went viral, gaining more than 21 million views

While many people applauded him for using his platform for good in the replies, others shared their shock upon uncovering who the man behind their favorite meme was

The funny phrase caused Drew to raise his eyebrows for a moment and blink his eyes in disbelief.

Speaking to BuzzFeed after it first went viral in 2017, Drew revealed that the reaction was totally natural, and definitely not intended to attract attention.

He thought no more of it – at least not until nearly four years later, when the short clip of his priceless expression began to inexplicably blow up on Twitter.

‘It’s a weird thing,’ he said at the time of his internet fame. ‘There is a little bit of a scary aspect knowing how big the internet is.’

After the meme turned him into an online sensation, Drew spent a few years working on a ‘crowdfunded documentary project exploring the world through the lens of games and sports’ called Cloth Map.

Drew now co-hosts two podcasts – one about movies with his wife, Sara, and another about Formula 1 – and is fiercely dedicated to funding MS research

Then, from 2020 until 2024, he worked as a producer for the video game development studio Digital Eclipse.

He now co-hosts two podcasts – one about movies with his wife, Sara, and another about Formula 1 – and is fiercely dedicated to funding MS research.

Each year, he rides his bike roughly 100 miles across San Francisco in a bid to raise money for the National MS Society as part of the charity biking group Big El West.

‘Two good friends of mine suffer from MS, so it’s a cause quite close to me,’ he wrote on his website.

He added to NBC News in a recent interview, ‘It’s nice to have found this outlet, and it’s great to see that it continues to resonate with people.’