Before TikTok and before influencers, a chaotic 56-second home video basically invented what going viral looked like. If you were anywhere near a computer in 2007, you saw “Charlie Bit My Finger” featuring the Davies-Carr brothers.
And if you’re a millennial reading this, you probably remember exactly where you were when someone emailed you the YouTube link. Years later, hearing the story behind the video is fascinating. The setup was dead simple, which was exactly why it worked and it’s still talked about today.
How Charlie and Harry Davies-Carr Broke the Internet With ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’
Baby Charlie Davies-Carr is sitting on his dad’s lap in what looks like any other family moment. His older brother, Harry Davies-Carr, is right next to him. Harry sticks his finger into Charlie’s mouth. The baby bites down. Harry reacts with mild pain, laughing through it, then delivers the line that became internet legend. No ring light. No sponsor. Just a completely unpolished clip that became one of the first truly global viral hits.
“Charlie bit me … and that really hurt,” Harry says in the 56-second video.
YouTube in 2007 was a wildly different place. Their father, Howard Davies-Carr, told the BBC in February 2025 they “wanted to share it with the boys’ godfather.” That was it — the entire plan. The video spread through emails, early social media and word of mouth, eventually becoming one of the most watched non-music clips in YouTube history with over 800 million views. It resonated because it felt real — just a relatable sibling moment in an era before content was carefully engineered for attention.
Where Are Charlie Davies-Carr and Harry Davies-Carr Now?
As the brothers got older, they became increasingly aware of just how far that clip had traveled. The video took on a life of its own, turning two regular kids into early internet viral stars from one silly moment caught on camera. For Charlie and Harry, growing up with that level of unexpected fame meant navigating something that no one had quite figured out yet — being recognized around the world for a moment filmed when they were babies.
Charlie told the BBC, “I don’t remember the video itself, but I’ve obviously seen it many times.”
He also talked about the perks: “We’ve been to America twice from it, I went round Sky’s studios, and we’ve met a lot of cool people. It’s just an extra part of our life that’s quite interesting.”
Even when he went off to university, Charlie kept it quiet. “There were a few times in Uni when [people asked] for a fun fact, but I was never going to use this as my fun fact,” he told the BBC.
Charlie is currently studying law a university in the U.K. Harry has lived a rather quiet life outside of the YouTube fame other than the occasional interview.
The Davies-Carr Family Sold ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ as an NFT in 2021
In 2021, the Davies-Carr family made headlines all over again. More than a decade after their original home video first broke the internet, the family decided to do something bold with the clip that had made them famous: sell it as an NFT. Charlie and Harry — along with their father — went through with the sale. The original video was taken down from YouTube at the time, though other copies are still floating around on other channels.
Speaking to the BBC, the family described it as “a chance to take ownership” of a clip that had lived online for more than a decade.
“It was quite exciting seeing the numbers go up, and everyone’s reaction to that. We were on a Clubhouse call with whoever else wanted to listen in, so we were there the whole time that it was being sold,” Harry said of watching the sale unfold.
Why ‘Charlie Bit My Finger’ Still Resonates With Millennials
For a generation that watched YouTube evolve from a raw, unfiltered space into today’s polished content machine, “Charlie Bit My Finger” feels like a time capsule from a completely different internet era. In a digital world dominated by strategy and algorithms, that randomness is what makes the video still hit. Sometimes all it takes is one unexpected moment and a very unfortunate finger.
