Millions of social media posts are shared each day – whether they are pictures, videos, or your relative’s latest political opinion – and a select few in Kent have become so popular they’ve made their way into national news.

We take a look back at the viral videos which have put the county on the map and been so shocking, funny or downright weird you’ve had to forward them to someone else.

Darts fan takes a tumble on London Underground escalator

Keeping it topical, the darts, and more specifically the PDC World’s Darts Championship, finishes tonight.

And although it is 16-year-old sensation Luke Littler on everyone’s mind right now, one Tonbridge man’s painful outing to the competition left everyone talking a few years ago.

In 2017, James Gower captured the moment his pal Freddie Andrews, 22 at the time, thought sliding down the side of the underground escalator was a good idea – it wasn’t.

The friends were returning from Alexandra Palace, also known as the Ally Pally, where a night of drinking and darts led to some bad decisions.

In the video Freddie, dressed in a full England kit, hops onto the side of the escalator and begins sliding down, much to his friends delight, when chaos ensues. Luckily for the Asda worker, he escaped with just a few cuts and bruises.

The clip went viral and Freddie even took the opportunity to cash in and create a cameo account which allows people to request a video of him for a set price.

Despite KentOnline’s efforts to contact him, even forking out £7 for a personal video, there was no reply.

TikToker slags off Kent towns

Moving to more recent times, comedian Phil Carr got tongues wagging when he took aim at the county on the popular social media site TikTok.

Mr Carr said he had a “hate-hate” relationship with Kent and he makes that clear in a number of critical videos.

The comedian has previously ripped into towns all over Kent, including the likes of Canterbury, Sheerness, Dover and Chatham in his tongue-in-cheek posts.

In one two-and-a-half minute clip, the father-of-one took aim at Sheppey, calling it "probably the most dangerous place in the whole of the South East".

However, after trekking around the county, including a visit to Margate with KentOnline, one town piqued his interest.

While visiting Ashford in May, he still takes a few cheeky digs during the video, but he is far less scathing than in his reviews of other parts of the county – some of which he has described as “worse than prison colonies”.

Starting in the town centre, he praises the bandstand (albeit noting the lack of any muscians), as well as Ashford International railway station and its high-speed service.

The Marsh’s pandemic stardom

As Covid-19 took hold of the country and all of us were plunged into lockdown, one family took the time to organise a memorable musical performance.

The Marsh family, from Faversham, took the nation by storm with their incredible rendition of the Les Misérables song One Day More.

The video of dad Dr Ben Marsh singing his heart out along with wife Danielle and children Alfie, Thomas, Ella and Tess, amassed a whopping four million views on Facebook.

News of their viral success even hit national television, with ITV presenter Holly Willoughby finding herself in tears at the family's lockdown-themed version of the classic song.

Dr Marsh told KentOnline he hoped the family performance would give other families ideas of ways to pass the time.

He said the family thought their performance "might give parents an idea of how to keep the kids occupied - besides from doing Joe Wicks or watching Netflix”.

The family continued their sing-along ways with a tribute to The Queen after her death, Bonnie Tyler's Total Eclipse of the Heart, and rendition of Mack the Knife for Prostate Cancer UK.

KMTV's ‘cannabis’ runaway

In 2018, a KMTV reporter found his face all over the internet after something surprising happened during a live broadcast from Hoath, near Canterbury, on the outcome of a cannabis cultivation court case when a rather unexpected guest appeared in the background.

During the broadcast, a man was seen running from the house with a large plant in his hands.

The video was viewed millions of times around the world, and featured in the South China Morning Post as well as The Jimmy Kimmel Show in the US.

Speaking about the unexpected event, calm-faced reporter Cameron said: "Friends around the country started saying they'd seen it on LadBible or in The Metro and that was pretty bonkers."

Prankster gets the better of Gary Lineker and BBC

Notorious joker Daniel Jarvis, known as Jarvo, had plenty of clips rack up hundreds of thousands of views over the past years.

But one which went viral around the country was during the FA Cup match between Wolves and Liverpool in January.

Presenter Gary Lineker and the BBC were forced to apologise when pornographic sounds could be heard during the live broadcast.

But they weren’t coming from Mr Lineker or his colleagues Paul Ince and Danny Murphy, but instead a phone which had been taped underneath a seat on set.

The show quickly cut to Newcastle legend Alan Shearer, stood in the gantry at the stadium at the time, who had a wry smile on his face.

The Gravesend prankster let people know he was behind the gag after showing a video of him at the stadium hours before.

At the time, a BBC spokesman said: “We apologise to any viewers offended during the live coverage of the football this evening. We are investigating how this happened.”

Kiki Challenge

In 2018, a mum from Medway found herself all over Facebook as she put her own unique twist on a viral challenge.

Donna Fenn, from Rochester, racked up more than 4.5 million views posting herself dancing along to the now-infamous Baby Shark song.

The Kiki challenge found people all over the world filming themselves getting out of moving cars and dancing alongside to Canadian rapper Drake's 'In My Feelings,' but Donna had her own reasons for adapting the challenge.

She said: "My 17-year-old daughter was watching all the Kiki challenges, and I didn't even know what the song was. She told me I wouldn't know if it's not a Peppa Pig or the Baby Shark song, so I decided to make the video for all the other mums out there that feel the same way."

Three knocked down in brawl outside McDonald’s

Sadly, not all the videos circulated around the county are cheery or positive.

In November 2022, millions of people saw a messy fight between three men outside McDonald’s in Ashford go viral.

The video sees an elderly-looking man take on a number of others outside the High Street branch of the fast food giant.

After punching two opponents to the pavement outside the entrance he then whips his shirt off and floors one of them again. Onlookers can be heard cheering and shouting, with some eventually attempting to break up the brawl.

Punter necks a yard of ale

Our most recent hit clip comes from Deal, where Richard Norris guzzled the two-and-a-half-pint pitcher on Christmas Day in front of stunned onlookers.

Clearly in the mood for festivities, Mr Norris was already four pints deep at the Finglesham’s Crown Inn when he fancied a challenge.

Husband and wife team Amy and Dave Beaney, who took over the pub 14 months ago, say they have never seen a customer complete the feat.

Mr Beaney said: “On Christmas day we give out a free drink to everyone. Richard is one of the regulars and fancied taking on the challenge. Richard was already four pints deep and did it in a white shirt - I think he did brilliantly.”