00:00He tried to eat the chip. I started to get a stomachache.
00:03Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at 10 viral challenges and trends that caused
00:08or were linked directly or indirectly to people's deaths.
00:11Yesterday, this latest fad claimed its first life.
00:16Hot Water Challenge
00:18Drinking hot water isn't necessarily dangerous. However,
00:21this was on a different level of unsafe.
00:24She was just a happy kid.
00:26In 2018, a viral challenge spread in which participants would either pour boiling water
00:31on someone or drink boiling water through a straw. This resulted in Indianapolis 15-year-old
00:36Kylan Clark suffering second-degree burns.
00:38To see my baby all burnt up like that, it was heartbreaking.
00:45Even more tragically, it also reportedly caused the death of 8-year-old Florida girl Kiari Pope.
00:50After drinking boiling water reportedly on a dare from a cousin,
00:54Pope was hospitalized, damaging her mouth and throat.
01:09Five months later, Pope experienced breathing difficulties and became unconscious.
01:13She died 40 minutes later at the hospital.
01:16Car Surfing
01:17This dangerous act has been around since long before the days of social media,
01:21but it's a trend with unfortunate longevity.
01:30Car surfing involves riding on the outside of a car or other vehicle being driven by someone else.
01:35Though participants might think this is a harmless way to play daredevil,
01:38it is completely unsafe under any circumstances.
01:46In 2023, a 16-year-old in Colorado died after sustaining intense
01:51injuries when the car he was hanging out the back window of rolled over.
01:54And that's by no means an isolated incident.
01:56And even when car surfing incidents aren't fatal, they can still lead to devastating outcomes,
02:01as was the case for another 16-year-old, Hannah Huntoon from Florida.
02:07One Chip Challenge
02:09Spicy food can be tough to handle, but this challenge took it to a new extreme.
02:13We got the Pocky One Chip Challenge.
02:17Beginning in 2016, Amplify Snack Brands promoted the One Chip Challenge for their brand, Pocky.
02:23For this challenge, participants would eat a tortilla chip flavored with the extremely spicy
02:27Carolina Reaper and Naga Viper peppers.
02:30It's so hot, some people use gloves to protect their skin.
02:35The intense heat from the chip resulted in medical attention needed for some.
02:39In 2023, Harris Willebaugh, a Massachusetts 14-year-old, took part in the challenge.
02:44After eating the chip, he experienced intense stomach pains and died a few hours later.
02:49As a result of this tragedy,
02:50Pocky pulled the product from shelves and ended their promotion for it.
03:07Neck Nominating
03:08Drinking games might just seem like a fun way to loosen up,
03:11but they can have tragic results, as shown by this challenge.
03:19Neck Nominating, which started in New Zealand and made its way to other countries,
03:23involves nominated participants filming themselves
03:25attempting to down a pint of an alcoholic drink in a single gulp.
03:34At least five deaths have been linked to this challenge,
03:37with victims typically drinking copious amounts of beverages
03:40with high alcohol contents in a short amount of time.
03:49These tragedies serve as an intense reminder as to why proper alcohol safety is so important.
03:54Ice Bucket Challenge
03:56You may have fond memories of participating in the Ice Bucket Challenge in 2014,
04:00helping to raise money and spread awareness for ALS.
04:03But that same year, the challenge was indirectly linked to a Scottish teen's death.
04:1418-year-old Cameron Lancaster drowned after reportedly doing a variation of the challenge,
04:19in which he jumped feet first into a flooded quarry, an act known as tombstoning.
04:24It's such a shame. I mean, such a shame. Like, he didn't have a bad bone in his body,
04:27and if anyone was going to do great things in his life, it would be him, definitely.
04:31His body was found by emergency workers four hours later.
04:34In a statement, they said,
04:36Cameron died in a tragic accident. His death is such a great loss. During his short life,
04:43he touched so many people with his friendliness, kindness and thoughtful generosity of spirit.
04:49This, sadly, wasn't the only death indirectly linked to this challenge. That same year,
04:54Willis Tapania, a 40-year-old New Zealand man, died of a heart attack after having
04:59ice water poured on him before drinking a large quantity of bourbon.
05:02Planking
05:04Another fad that was huge in the 2010s, planking involves participants lying horizontally on odd
05:09surfaces, such as on countertops or desks. For the most part, it was just a fun excuse for people to
05:14take some silly photos. However, some participants took the challenge too far, planking in rather
05:20unsafe situations. Acton Beale, a 20-year-old Australian man, died after falling from a
05:25seven-story balcony railing he was attempting to plank on.
05:34Among those who commented on this tragic death was then-Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard,
05:44who offered a crucial reminder about why it's so important to prioritise safety above all else.
05:54Happy Slapping
05:56Don't let the name fool you, there's nothing remotely happy about this 2000s fad.
06:00Originating in the UK, happy slapping refers to attacking and filming unsuspecting victims
06:05with physical violence. Violating someone's personal boundaries like this is not okay
06:18under any circumstances, and some of these incidents ended up going much further than
06:22slapping. Among those who were killed as a result of this challenge were 40-year-old bartender David
06:27Morley and 67-year-old retired care worker Ekram Haque, both from London. And there are sadly more
06:36fatal cases from there, as well as other disturbing happy slapping incidents. Benadryl Challenge
06:45Any medication, even those available over the counter, need to be used responsibly. Sadly,
06:51improper substance use can have terrible results, as was the case with the so-called
06:55Benadryl Challenge. This challenge, started in 2020, involved participants consuming large
07:00amounts of the popular antihistamine commonly available in pharmacies. In 2023, Jacob Stevens,
07:17a 13-year-old from Ohio, was filmed eating more than a dozen tablets by his friends.
07:21He then started seizing and was admitted to the ICU. After enduring intense brain damage and
07:26spending six days on a ventilator, he was taken off life support. That same year, Chloe Marie
07:31Phillips, a 15-year-old Oklahoma girl, reportedly died as a result of the same challenge. Chroming
07:49Inhaling chemicals from common household items is not a new trend. It's known under many names,
07:54including huffing, sniffing, and more recently, chroming. But no matter what you call it,
07:59it's incredibly dangerous, with numerous deaths reported. In 2023, Ezra Haines,
08:09a 13-year-old Australian girl, took part in the chroming trend that had spread on TikTok.
08:19After inhaling the chemicals from a deodorant can at a sleepover,
08:25Haines went into cardiac arrest and experienced irrevocable brain damage.
08:28Following this devastating experience, her father Paul said it would be the family's crusade
08:33to help prevent this from happening to others.
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09:04Blackout Challenge
09:06Oxygen deprivation is one of the most dangerous things for someone to experience,
09:10but it was the purpose of this viral challenge.
09:18or something interesting, you're sort of gamifying the particular thing
09:22and decreasing people's perception of the risks.
09:25Though similar challenges have reportedly existed since the 90s,
09:28the blackout challenge spread via TikTok in 2021.
09:32Participants would try to suppress their breathing for extended periods, with fatal consequences.
09:36It's very hard for all of us.
09:40At least 20 children have reportedly died from this challenge, many of whom were 12 or younger.
09:45TikTok was also served with multiple lawsuits related to the challenge.
09:48We don't want no other children out there to be a statistic of this situation.
09:54Though these suits were dismissed,
09:55the platform has blocked users for searching videos related to the challenge.
09:59Instead, a warning message is shown.
10:02What do you think should be done to prevent deaths from viral challenges?
10:05Let us know in the comments.
10:09Check out these other clips from WatchMojo,
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