The 'I Met This Guy on Holiday' meme typically features a setup where a person excitedly shares a photo of someone they encountered during a trip, only for the reveal to be an absurd, famous, or unsettling character. It plays on the trope of holiday flings and the often-exaggerated stories people tell after traveling. The meme format gained traction across TikTok and Twitter, where users would use photo inserts to subvert expectations, replacing a 'dream guy' with a meme icon like Shrek, a video game character, or a bizarrely dressed local. It is widely used for self-deprecating humor and documenting relatable, if not slightly weird, travel mishaps.