GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Extra Medium. It's a size that doesn't exist. It's also a viral TikTok trivia account whose creators film in downtown Grand Rapids, pitting people they find on the street against each other in friendly, head-to-head competition.
Which language has the most words? What's the second largest organ in the human body? If I showed you a picture of a celebrity, could you name them? How's your geography? From A to Z, can you name two countries for every letter in the alphabet?
These are the types of questions featured on Extra Medium. Here's the trick: When a player answers a question correctly, they crack open a neon, nesting egg. The first player to open all eight of their eggs wins the game and gets a cash prize.
In turn, a video of the game is posted on Extra Medium's social media platforms.
@extramediummedia How well would you have done? #trivia #triviachallenge #triviagame #extramedium #quiz ♬ original sound - Extra Medium
The brand has more than a million followers on TikTok, its most popular platform, where videos on the app routinely amass tens of thousands of views from people around the globe who play along on their phone.
"I love talking to people. I love interacting with people," said Tori Mutch, the host of Extra Medium.
"My voice, ironically, my voice is very famous," she said. "People always say, 'Oh my gosh, you're the face to the voice.'"
In 2023, Mutch and her husband, Ryan, began filming trivia videos in Grand Rapids. They had both been content creators for multiple years and wanted a channel that "used the public."
"We liked being out in the city, out and about," Mutch said.
When man-on-the street-style interviews (What do you do for work? How much money do you earn?) turned out to be unproductive (the people of Grand Rapids sometimes mistook Tori and Ryan for reporters) the two pivoted to trivia.
"We used to beg people to play," Mutch said. "I would sit out there and I would grovel. I’d be like, 'You get a prize! It's really fun! It's not that hard!.'"
Eventually, the trivia took hold. Extra Medium's trademark eggs, originally found at Meijer and also bought on Amazon, gave the contests a signature look.
"The eggs were our thing to set us apart," Mutch said. "We thought it was a great way to make it a competition because you could track and visually see on the screen who was winning and who was going to win."
The job is a full-time gig for Tori and Ryan. There are questions to write, videos to film and algorithms to study. They have an editor who pieces it all together. There's no boss to tell them what to do and no schedule to rely upon. It's up to them to make it work, a work that's both freeing and frightening.
"When you're a social media creator, it's kind of lonely," Mutch said. "Unfortunately, there's not a lot of people — at least my friends — that do it, so it's not like we're collaborating all the time or things like that."
A piece of advice for aspiring creators? Post. Then post again. Pay attention to what works. Then post again.
"If you really like something, stick with it," Mutch said.
In the long-term, Extra Medium is looking to produce more long-form content on YouTube, the "most lucrative way to make money on social media."
They'll "always" do TikTok trivia, though. It's a good way to find contestants for longer videos, a great way to build a following. It's also a lot of fun.
On Friday evenings, you can often find Extra Medium filming near MadCap Coffee Company or MoJo's in downtown Grand Rapids. Test your knowledge sometime. Crack some eggs. Star in a video.
"Super rewarding," Mutch said. "You're creating content that people like."
"Not every creator gets to do that, so I think that's super fun."
READ MORE: Why can't we put down TikTok?
