25 Dangerous Stupid Viral Challenges

The Rise of Viral Challenges

So, heeding all the warnings, have you ever done a viral challenge? There have been so many challenges that have gone viral over the last 15 or so years that it is nearly impossible to keep track of them all. Some are fun and harmless like flash mobs or the Harlem Shake. Then, there are those that are just stupid, unnecessary, and dangerous. Without further chatter, we present to you a list of the top 25 dangerous, stupid viral challenges! While basically harmless, staying in a store after it has closed is sometimes considered trespassing and people have been arrested and covicted for it. Seems pretty stupid to put your future in jeopardy for likes or views. I will grab a gallon of milk, throw it as hard as I can on the floor, lay in it pretending to hurt injured, and see if I can get someone to help me up. If I record it, I can get a like!” And thus the gallon smashing challenge was born. So, a gallon of whatever (usually milk) is smashed on the floor and wasted, some confused person who is just trying to get home so they can try to have a moment’s peace in their day has to deal with this, and then some underpaid, overworked employee has to come clean the mess as they struggle through another day in retail. All this so you can post an unfunny video that will get liked by your 4 friends who also videoed themselves pulling the same stupid prank. It doesn’t happen. The geyser still happens and explodes out of the person’s face instead of a coke bottle. This can obviously be dangerous because of the choking hazard involved when a handful of Mentos starts exploding in your mouth. Put a design of any kind on your body with a sun blocking material (some fabric, a design cut from paper, whatever), don’t put on any sunscreen, then sit outside for an hour or two until you have a painful sunburn all around the little unburned design. Come on… Why would you do this to yourself. 1 in 5 people will get skin cancer in their lifetime and it is estimated that 9500 people are diagnosed each day. It can be brought on by even one serious sunburn in your lifetime. Please don’t be one of them just for a few likes likes. Might you suffocate from not being able to breathe like others have? Maybe! Will your nasal area start bleeding because of damaged blood vessels close to the skin’s surface? Seems likely! Will you pull out all of your facial hair like eye lashes and eye brows? Could be! Will you develop acne all over your face because the wax has clogged your pores? Almost certainly! When you look at the spot where the salt was, you can decide whether a hospital visit will be necessary. The combination of ice and salt can get as cold as -18 degrees Celsius or 0 degrees Fahrenheit. This can cause second and third degree injuries resembling frostbite. It can also cause painful open sores to develop as well as permanent scarring. Starting in 2012, this challenge found traction and became viral around 2014. When someone decides to do this challenge, the first thing they get is immediate 1st to 2nd degree burns. Then you’ll start inhaling super heated air into your lungs. Usually following this is panic. Believe it or not, when people actually sees themselves on fire, they panic, often causing them to attempt running away or flailing their arms which adds oxygen to the fire making it burn faster. If you were to google “the fire challenge” you’d find story after story after story of people who either died or were permanently injured and scarred attempting it. A person stands on the roof or hood or bumper of a car, sometimes using a surfboard or some other item fastened to the roof, and then they surf. There are videos of people performing this challenge on busy interstates across the country. Many people have died after falling off the cars, usually of head trauma. This is also one of those challenges that can involve innocent bystanders. Somebody falls and cars start swerving to miss them which could cause accidents or the surfer to get run over. All for no real reason. In an interview, Weyer explained that he started the challenge as an example of how stupid and pointless viral challenges really are. While some people got the joke and posted parody or silly videos of the challenge, many people didn’t. They took the challenge seriously and posted earnest videos of them doing it. Weyer said he was really surprised to see what people would put on the internet if you call it a challenge and add a hashtag. Parents wanted to get in on some viral fun so they started the poop challenge. There are variations but the main idea is to ask your kid to bring you their toilet paper after they go to the bathroom (already gross). When the child hands it to them, the parents pretend to wipe the kids with the poop by wiping them with nutella or peanut butter or something like that. Then they video the kid’s reaction. Those attempting to do this challenge usually use shoe laces or purse straps or any other rope like item that they can wrap around their necks. With nobody to assist them or watch out for them, many pass out without loosening their choking device. They pass out, unable to breathe, and pass away. I can’t imagine walking in my house and finding my child of 8 or 10 years old dead, from trying to make a tik tok video. Devastating. So these people recorded themselves addressing their kids with things like “Would someone like to trade their kid for this lazy sack of s**t” or “I wish I would have never had you. But my favorite is the woman who asked if she could still have an abortion if the fetus is 17 years old? Eat a spoonful of cinnamon within 1 minute. No drinking any water until the task is complete. Friends laugh at your pain. That’s it. That’s the challenge. But the consequences of it can be serious. The cinnamon powder will coat and soak up all the moisture in your throat and mouth. This causes choking, gagging, and in many cases, vomiting. Coughing may also start which causes clouds of cinnamon to blast out of the challengers face. You see, often the cinnamon gets into the nasal passages and dries up the mucous membranes. This causes burning, itching and long lasting irritation. But you also need to inhale. Cinnamon contains high levels of the compound cinnameldahyde. Breathing in this compound can cause pneumonia, inflammation, scarring, or even collapsed lungs. Those who take the challenge sometimes take as many as twelve pills at once. Where the normal side effects are drowsiness, those taking this challenge may experience one or all of the following; Elevated heart rate which could cause arrhythmias resulting in stroke, seizures, and cardiac arrest which can lead to permanent brain damage and comas. Other problems such as confusion, delirium, hallucinations, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness stems also common. First, it’s really gross. Pulling something out of your nose and then putting it in your mouth is disgusting. But second, it’s really easy for the condom to get stuck either in the nasal passages or throat and prohibit breathing. I simply have no more words for this. Laundry detergent is not made of delicious ingredients. It is filled with toxic chemicals. Toxic enough that they could kill you. If you want to make a meme about the funny and ridiculous ways someone could consume one, fine. That can be creative and funny. But eating one is the same as deciding to eat small amounts of rat poison so people can watch you get sick and nearly die. Don’t. Just don’t. So here’s what we are going to do; plug a phone charger into a socket about half way, put a penny on the still exposed portion of the charger’s prongs, and watch what happens. Here’s what could happen. Electrical sparks shooting from the socket, which may easily start a house fire or receiving an electrical shock which is quite painful and could result in serious burns around the hands, arms, and face possibly resulting in the loss of limbs. Someone drives a car, opens the door, jumps out of the car, and dances to Drake’s “In My Feelings” while trying to keep up with their now driverless vehicle. At the last possible moment, they then jump back in the car. Many people fail this challenge because jumping into a moving car is actually quite difficult. So they fail, and now their car is rolling down the road- where other people are safely driving- with no driver. Just a big machine moving aimlessly into traffic. Seriously, what could possibly go wrong? Do you know what happens when boiling water hits skin? It kinda melts it. Boiling water can cause second and third degree burns, massive blistering, and permanent scarring. What kind of “friend” would do that much physical damage to another person? The dangerous challenge was inevitable. People began blindfolding themselves and performing everyday tasks such as cooking, walking the dog or even driving! Wait,, what? Yes. People tried driving, walking down the road, you name it. Netflix was forced to issue a statement that began “Can’t believe I have to say this but PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES DOING THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE” and went on to say they had one wish for 2019 which was “for people to not end up in the hospital due to memes. We couldn’t agree more. Charlie Charlie is a variation on that. In the Spanish-speaking world, this game has been around for decades, often referred to as the “poor man’s ouija board”. Take a piece of paper, and draw an X on it. Label opposite quadrants of the paper as Yes and No. Place two pencils on the paper, one balancing on top of the other, aligned with the “x”. Ask it a question beginning with “Charlie, Charlie…” Then wait for the top pencil to move to yes or no. That’s it. So naturally, why not stack them like steps and try to climb them without falling? I’m sure everything will be fine. As long as you don’t fall that is. But you ARE going to fall because stacked crates are very unstable, especially while a human person is running up them. Never mind the scrapes, cuts, bruises, broken bones, and possibly head trauma! Don’t let the risk of serious injury stand in your way! This is where the Ghost Pepper challenge falls. To complete the challenge you just need to eat one. The Ghost Pepper is one of the highest on the Scoville scale which measures the “heat” levels of different species of peppers. The Ghost Pepper is extremely hot and eating one can cause a severe burning in the mouth and throat, excessive nasal drainage, vomiting, and hallucinations. Other than that, it isn’t dangerous except in specific cases. The effects can also include… “stomach issues” for a couple days after as well. 50 challenges are given by a game “administrator”, each more and more traumatic as the ones before. They start as simple challenges; listen to a certain genre of music, stay up all night watching horror movies, and trying to go days without sleep. They then move to making the victim do acts of self harm like carving the outline of a whale into their arm. The 50th challenge is always for the challenger to commit suicide. Finding hard evidence of the game is difficult but some deaths of teens and younger kids have fit the description of the challenges used in the game. Also, various individuals have been convicted of being “administrators,” some by their own admission. To perform the challenge, a teen will step into traffic and stop in front of an oncoming truck. To win, the truck is able to stop in time. If it doesn’t, you lose. You also die. Thus the name. The thing is, very rarely will a speeding truck be able to break in time to keep from running over anything that simply stops in its path. So some kids have died, accidents have happened causing injury to the innocent, and drivers will have to live the rest of their lives knowing that they killed someone. And for what? Honestly, the lack of concern or respect for life is sickening and sad. Usually, at the end of our lists, we ask if you, our audience, have you ever experienced whatever it is we are talking about. In this case, we can only hope that none of you have. We love our viewers and subscribers and want only the best, happiest lives possible for all of you.