Whose legs are whose? Optical illusion of couple hugging leaves people baffled

24 June 2022, 17:34 | Updated: 2 December 2022, 14:23

By Alice Dear

People cannot work out what is going on with this couple's legs.

A seemingly normal picture of a couple hugging on a beach has gone viral for the strangest reason.

The image in question recently resurfaced on Reddit, and has left people baffled due to the optical illusion created by the couple's legs.

The picture, which was posted alongside the caption: "This hurts my brain...", shows a man and a woman embracing in front of a beautiful beach.

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The man is facing away from the camera, and the woman is hugging him while facing the camera.

If you look closely at the pair's legs, you'll see that something does not look right as it appears they have switched legs.

People have been left puzzled by the image, and have attempted to work out the truth behind the illusion.

We've had a good look and we think we've figured it out. But before we reveal all, did you?

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It looks like the man is wearing black and white shorts that, because of the loose fit, makes it appear the white of the shorts are the woman's trousers.

However, if you look closer, you can see whatever the woman is wearing is not being shown and that the fold of the white part of the man's shorts have just coincidentally gathered where her legs are.

Some people on the Reddit forum have had the same idea as us, however, some have other explanations to make sense of the optical illusion.

One person commented: "Took me a bit to figure out he's got a sweater tied around his waist" – we never even thought of that!

Another wrote: "I think the wind is blowing the blue skirt and making it wrap around his legs."

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