The 'Cheating Penguin' meme stems from a viral National Geographic video titled 'Homewrecker Penguin,' which first aired in 2016. The footage captures a male penguin returning to his nest only to find his mate with another male, resulting in a shockingly brutal and bloody physical confrontation between the two suitors. While the original narrator describes the scene with intense gravity, the internet quickly turned the tragedy into a relatable format for discussing betrayal, love triangles, and unexpected conflicts. It is most commonly used to represent someone discovering a painful truth or a third party intruding on a stable situation, often exaggerated for comedic effect.