I think I am going
to be ill. My stomach is gurgling, starting to roll and its contents are about
to take flight.
I’ve been
researching what people put in their mouths, and why. What I have discovered is
enough to make a cast iron stomach flip its pancakes.
For instance, earlier
this year an Internet meme involving laundry pods surged in popularity and
suddenly developed into the Tide Pod Challenge. Teenagers videoed themselves
chewing and gagging on Tide Pods and posting the videos to You Tube where they
dared others to do the same.
The only answer
seemed to be stupidity.
While researching I
discovered the world of Internet food challenges. I guess I lead a sheltered
life because I did not know there are hundreds of food challenges, ranging from
eating the world’s hottest pepper to the Banana Sprite Challenge.
The latter involves
quickly swallowing two bananas then chugging a litre of Sprite. The idea is to do
that without vomiting, which is nearly impossible because the human stomach can
hold only two cups of anything at any given moment.
There are a variety
of hot pepper challenges in which participants are filmed eating the world’s
hottest peppers. The preparations, including having large quantities of
soothing milk at hand, are shown followed by the eating, then the reactions
that can include intense sweating, pain contortions and hallucinations.
One guy who took the hot pepper challenge landed in hospital
with a burned throat and a collapsed lung.
Two years ago five
middle school kids in Ohio were taken to hospital following a hot pepper
challenge during lunch break. The kids
suffered skin rashes, sweating and unbearable discomfort. One boy temporarily
lost his eyesight.
They had eaten Bhut Jolokia, also called the ghost
pepper, which is a type of chilli pepper cultivated in India.
The ghost pepper was
considered the world’s hottest pepper but apparently the Carolina Reaper now
has that honour. Pepperhead, a hot pepper website found at https://pepperhead.com/top-10-worlds-hottest-peppers/,
reports that the Reaper is 20 times hotter than a Habanero and 600 times hotter
than a Jalapeno.
Imagine, 600 times
hotter than a pepper that makes me sweat whenever I just drive past a grocery
store that sells them!
There seems to be no
end to the number of nasty food challenges. There’s the drinking Lemon Juice Challenge,
the Chubby Bunny (stuffing numerous marshmallows in your mouth), the Gulping
Milk Challenge and the Saltine Challenge in which participants try to stuff
their mouths with crackers without spitting them out.
The list seems
endless. These challenges are really stunts aimed at getting attention. Some
are entertaining, even educational, but others are just plain dumb and can be
dangerous.
Among the most gross
and dangerous are the two Condom Challenges. These began several years back,
presumably by beer drinking college students bored with studying, but have
found renewed popularity this year.
One involves
snorting a latex condom through the nose, into the back of the throat, then
pulling it out through the mouth. Medical professionals of course warn that
this is a really bad idea.
These things are
rubbery and can easily get stuck in the throat, cutting off breathing and
forcing a person to choke. Swallowing one can create serious medical
complications.
That challenge went
viral on You Tube in 2013 but You Tube later removed condom challenge videos.
The other condom challenge
is the water drop. You fill a condom with water and drop it on your head. The
idea is to have the condom envelope your head to leave the impression that you
are immersed in the water inside the condom.
This kind of
craziness is nothing new. Whacky challenges and bizarre stunts have been around
for decades, if not centuries. They will continue and likely more elaborate and
crazy than before.
We just hope that
they come with some restraint and common sense. Because we live in a society
that already offers too many ways to get hurt.
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