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Inspired by 'The Holiday,' TikTokers are posting tours of their dreamy homes and asking people to swap houses with them

Dec 14, 2021, 23:28 IST
Insider
Grace Gagnon (right) started a TikTok trend where people plan home swaps just like in "The Holiday."Netflix, Courtesy of Grace Gagnon
  • TikTokers inspired by "The Holiday" are sharing house tours in an effort to do a home exchange.
  • Several users say they've gotten hundreds of responses and are serious about swapping homes.
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People inspired by "The Holiday" are sharing home tours on TikTok set to the film's soundtrack, asking those interested in doing a house swap to contact them in the hopes of going on a winter vacation.

In the 2006 Nancy Myers romantic comedy, two strangers, Iris (Kate Winslet) and Amanda (Cameron Diaz), carry out a last-minute home exchange over the holidays. After switching homes, both women find love: Amanda meets Graham (Jude Law), a widower with two children, while staying in the English countryside, and Iris meets Miles (Jack Black), a Hollywood music composer, while vacationing in California.

After watching the movie for the first time, Grace Gagnon (@grace_gagnon) told Insider that she uploaded a TikTok tour of her apartment in Boston on December 14 set to the film's theme music and asked her followers who would want to swap homes. The 25-year-old TikToker said the video started out as a joke because her account only had a small following — then, she began receiving serious offers to switch homes.

Gagnon, who works in marketing for weather and climate security company, Tomorrow.io, spoke to Insider about her home-exchange video going viral. At the time of writing, Gagnon's video has over 2.9 million views.

"Prior to this, I had like 800 followers and I would post once and a while and get like 15 to 20 likes," Gagnon, who now has over 12,200 followers on the platform, said.

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"I woke up Wednesday and I had thousands of messages and every time I opened my phone I had hundreds of notifications with more and more views and I was thinking 'Oh my god, I have to do this now. This is so cool, I'm getting great offers,'" she added. "When else would I be able to do this?"

On Sunday, Gagnon posted a video with an update, saying she has made a decision and is waiting to hear back from the person before revealing more details about her upcoming home swap. She also shared a video Monday showing her carry-on bag for the trip.

Gagnon told Insider she plans to announce where she's going next week, and that since posting her TikTok she has seen others create similar videos.

Grace Gagnon's video started a trend

British actor and singer Jules Knight (@julesknightofficial) told Insider that, after seeing Gagnon's TikTok, he shared a video of his Norfolk home and asked followers in the caption who would want to swap, saying that he's looking to go "somewhere hot." His post from Thursday has been viewed over 233,200 times at the time of writing.

Knight said he thinks "The Holiday" is the best Christmas movie, and that he had "zero expectations" when he posted his video. But, like Gagnon, he said he's received a number of offers.

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"The video just immediately took off," he said. "Within minutes I was receiving offers of beachfront houses in Florida and Puerto Rico, and every other hot country you can imagine."

On Saturday, Knight posted an update saying he's specifically looking for dates between January 3 and 13, and for a destination that isn't too far away.

"It's a nice feeling when an idea that floated through your head connects with so many people all over the world," he said. "I'd be so happy to be near a sandy beach and some sun right now."

London-based interior stylist Ola Zwolenik (@thistimeincolour) told Insider that after seeing a similar video, she also uploaded her own "The Holiday"-inspired video.

Zwolenik captioned her post from Sunday, which has over 1.1 million views at the time of writing: "Let's do it The Holiday style, except no love interest expected! It doesn't have to be fancy!"

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Speaking to Insider, Zwolenik said she's "always loved the 'Holiday' movie and often fantasized of having my own Iris adventure."

She added that she's received thousand of offers to swap homes, and is "positively shocked" at the response.

"I love my home, but after being stuck here for so long during the pandemic, I would just love the change of scenery," she added. "No romance required, I already have my Jack Black, but if someone ends up finding their Jude Law here in London, wouldn't that be something?"

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