Beautiful Virgin Islands

Thursday, Oct 30, 2025

‘I can’t explain it’: the man behind the wheels-doors Twitter post that ‘exploded’ online

‘I can’t explain it’: the man behind the wheels-doors Twitter post that ‘exploded’ online

Two weeks ago New Zealander Ryan Nixon created a social media poll for his fewer than 1,500 followers – the rest is history

The New Zealander who unwittingly sparked an agonising global debate over whether there are more doors or wheels in the world has come to his own conclusion – “I’m firmly team wheels”.

Auckland man Ryan Nixon, 37, was at home watching sport two Saturday nights ago when a friend posed the question to a group chat he shares with a bunch of mates. Unable to reach a consensus, he decided to create a poll for his fewer than 1,500 Twitter followers.

“My mates and I are having the STUPIDEST debate … And I am here for it,” he wrote. “Do you think there are more doors or wheels in the world?”

On a usual day, Nixon, who is a rugby referees manager, “is pretty stoked” to get up to 100 votes on a Twitter poll. After posting the conundrum he watched a few votes trickle in and went to bed. On Sunday morning, after a round of golf, he noticed the post had raced up to 14,000 votes, and then, when New Zealand entertainer Jemaine Clement retweeted it to his half-a-million followers, the poll “just exploded”. By Monday, he had switched off his notifications because it was “getting out of hand”.


At the poll’s close, it had amassed 223,347 votes, just under 2,500 comments and more than 9,000 retweets, with 53.6% concluding there were more wheels in the world.

But the debate did not stop there, with the poll spawning countless TikTok videos, social media posts and ongoing media commentary as people went round and round trying to get to the bottom of the answer, only to find themselves standing in front of a hypothetical locked door – ultimately, the question is unanswerable, or at least would take significant resources and time to come to any sort of reliable conclusion.


Nixon said the question had been floating around the internet for a while, but “for whatever reason – good luck, good timing and good luck with some of the retweets – it just took off from there”.

“To get a quarter of a million [votes] is just ridiculous, I can’t explain it.”

However, Nixon has some theories on why the question has induced such a feverish response. “If you’re having a debate with your mates, it’s so easy just to jump on Google and win or lose the argument, but for this one there is no answer – it would take forever to try to solve it.

“The beauty of it is people can pick a side and argue for or against … and some people do that pretty aggressively.”


It was interesting to him that people were firmly one or the other. Nixon himself had immediately jumped on the “door” bandwagon, but after engaging in some “critical thinking” and reading through numerous arguments for and against, he switched to team “wheel”.

“People were pointing out office chairs and trolleys and wheels in your drawers and wheels on sliding doors and on toys. I’m firmly team wheels now.”

Nixon said his brush with fame was surreal and fun, but that it would “peter out soon” and he could go back to living his normal life. Until then, he was happy he created some silly respite for people around the world.

“With everything else that was going on with Covid, Russia and Ukraine, and petrol prices, providing people with a lighthearted distraction or entertainment was cool.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

Beautiful Virgin Islands
0:00
0:00
Close
UK and Vietnam Sign Landmark Migration Deal to Fast-Track Returns of Irregular Arrivals
UK Drug-Pricing Overhaul Essential for Life-Sciences Ambition, Says GSK Chief
Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie Temporarily Leave the UK Amid Their Parents’ Royal Fallout
UK Weighs Early End to Oil and Gas Windfall Tax as Reeves Seeks Investment Commitments
UK Retail Inflation Slows as Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since Spring
Next Raises Full-Year Profit Guidance After Strong Third-Quarter Performance
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson Admits to 'Gaming' Benefits System While Advocating Crackdown
United States and South Korea Conclude Major Trade Accord Worth $350 Billion
Hurricane Melissa Strikes Cuba After Devastating Jamaica With Record Winds
Vice President Vance to Headline Turning Point USA Campus Event at Ole Miss
U.S. Targets Maritime Narco-Routes While Border Pressure to Mexico Remains Limited
Bill Gates at 70: “I Have a Real Fear of Artificial Intelligence – and Also Regret”
Elon Musk Unveils Grokipedia: An AI-Driven Alternative to Wikipedia
Saudi Arabia Unveils Vision for First-Ever "Sky Stadium" Suspended Over Desert Floor
Amazon Announces 14 000 Corporate Job Cuts as AI Investment Accelerates
UK Shop Prices Fall for First Time Since March, Food Leads the Decline
London Stock Exchange Group ADR (LNSTY) Earns Zacks Rank #1 Upgrade on Rising Earnings Outlook
Soap legend Tony Adams, long-time star of Crossroads, dies at 84
Rachel Reeves Signals Tax Increases Ahead of November Budget Amid £20-50 Billion Fiscal Gap
NatWest Past Gains of 314% Spotlight Opportunity — But Some Key Risks Remain
UK Launches ‘Golden Age’ of Nuclear with £38 Billion Sizewell C Approval
UK Announces £1.08 Billion Budget for Offshore Wind Auction to Boost 2030 Capacity
UK Seeks Steel Alliance with EU and US to Counter China’s Over-Capacity
UK Struggles to Balance China as Both Strategic Threat and Valued Trading Partner
Argentina’s Markets Surge as Milei’s Party Secures Major Win
British Journalist Sami Hamdi Detained by U.S. Authorities After Visa Revocation Amid Israel-Gaza Commentary
King Charles Unveils UK’s First LGBT+ Armed Forces Memorial at National Memorial Arboretum
At ninety-two and re-elected: Paul Biya secures eighth term in Cameroon amid unrest
Racist Incidents Against UK Nurses Surge by 55%
UK Chancellor Rachel Reeves Cites Shared Concerns With Trump Administration as Foundation for Early US-UK Trade Deal
Essentra plc: A Closer Look at a UK ‘Penny Stock’ Opportunity Amid Market Weakness
U.S. and China Near Deal to Avert Rare-Earth Export Controls Ahead of Trump-Xi Summit
Justin time: Justin Herbert Shields Madison Beer with Impressive Reflex at Lakers Game
Russia’s President Putin Declares Burevestnik Nuclear Cruise Missile Ready for Deployment
Giuffre’s Memoir Alleges Maxwell Claimed Sexual Act with Clooney
House Republicans Move to Strip NYC Mayoral Front-Runner Zohran Mamdani of U.S. Citizenship
Record-High Spoiled Ballots Signal Voter Discontent in Ireland’s 2025 Presidential Election
Philippines’ Taal Volcano Erupts Overnight with 2.4 km Ash Plume
Albania’s Virtual AI 'Minister' Diella Set to 'Birth' Eighty-Three Digital Assistants for MPs
Tesla Unveils Vision for Optimus V3 as ‘Biggest Product of All Time’, Including Surgical Capabilities
Francis Ford Coppola Auctions Luxury Watches After Self-Financed Film Flop
Convicted Sex Offender Mistakenly Freed by UK Prison Service Arrested in London
United States and China Begin Constructive Trade Negotiations Ahead of Trump–Xi Summit
U.S. Treasury Sanctions Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro over Drug-Trafficking Allegations
Miss USA Crowns Nebraska’s Audrey Eckert Amid Leadership Overhaul
‘I Am Not Done’: Kamala Harris Signals Possible 2028 White House Run
NBA Faces Integrity Crisis After Mass Arrests in Gambling Scandal
Swift Heist at the Louvre Sees Eight French Crown Jewels Stolen in Under Seven Minutes
U.S. Halts Trade Talks with Canada After Ontario Ad Using Reagan Voice Triggers Diplomatic Fallout
Microsoft AI CEO: ‘We’re making an AI that you can trust your kids to use’ — but can Microsoft rebuild its own trust before fixing the industry’s?
×