The Craziest Online Food Challenges People Shouldn't Follow But Do
The Dark Side Of Virality
You might think that you've seen it all, but you won't believe what people are doing for views these days! Social media has turned food and dining experiences into a wild circus of increasingly dangerous (and gross) stunts. While millions of likes and shares keep pushing people to pursue riskier and crazier behavior, doctors have been warning about these 20 food challenges since the day they went viral. How many have you stumbled on over the years?
1. The Ghost Pepper Challenge
Imagine biting into something so hot it registers at over a million Scoville units! The emergency rooms saw such a spike in pepper-related visits that they had to issue special protocols for handling these cases. That's what happens when folks start popping ghost peppers like candy.
2. The Sleepy Chicken Challenge
Just when you thought TikTok couldn't get weirder, people started cooking chicken in NyQuil! Participants are simmering perfectly good chicken in cold medicine! The FDA had to step in because, apparently, people were finding it hard to understand that turning medicine into chicken sauce is dangerous.
3. The Octuple Bypass Burger
This burger is served at the notorious Heart Attack Grill, where some past customers have even collapsed while eating it. Packed with eight massive patties, nearly 20,000 calories, and enough fat to block arteries, it’s not just a meal—it’s a health risk. In fact, real heart attacks have been tied to this burger.
Alexander Blecher, blecher.info, all 450 pictures, overview on Wikimedia
4. The Coffee Bean Challenge
Some genius decided eating 100 raw coffee beans was a cool challenge, and surprisingly, people jumped on board! If we think about it, that would be like chugging 12 espressos in 10 minutes. Cardiologists are continuously warning as perfectly healthy people show up with racing hearts and jitters.
5. The Frozen Honey Challenge
Can something like honey be controversial? Yes, when TikTokers freeze entire bottles of honey and eat it like popsicles. After people started having their teeth cracked on frozen sugar blocks, dentists marked it dangerous, and endocrinologists explained how the amount could increase blood sugar.
Frozen Honey Jelly Challenge by Multi DO Challenge by Multi DO Challenge
6. The Gallon Gauntlet Challenge
In this challenge, people try to chug a whole gallon of milk in an hour! However, the stomach cannot take it and is not shy about expressing its opinion. Most humans can't process that much dairy without turning their bathroom into a danger zone.
7. The Grand Sicilian Pizza Challenge
At Big Mama's & Papa's, the 50-pound, 20,000-calorie pizza challenge calls for a team of seven to finish it in two hours. The prize? A free meal and $1,000. But with that much food, digestive issues and even the risk of choking are serious concerns—not exactly a reward worth the struggle.
8. The One Chip Challenge
Paqui, a snack company, created a chip so spicy that entire school districts had to ban those chips. It's only a single tortilla chip, but it's dangerous enough to warrant official school policies! As a result, kids were heading to the nurse’s office more often than to class.
One Chip Challenge Carolina Reaper Scorpion 2022 by CrazyRussianHacker
9. Surstromming Challenge
This viral test of bravery involves opening a can of fermented herring to smell it and sometimes even daring to take a bite. The smell is so gut-wrenching that it’s banned on airplanes, yet millions flock to watch people gag, run away, or even vomit while attempting to tolerate it.
10. The "Chubby Bunny" Challenge
The "Chubby Bunny" challenge might sound cute, but it quickly takes a dangerous turn when people stuff their mouths with enough marshmallows to block an air vent. With a serious choking risk, emergency responders have had to handle more marshmallow-related incidents than they'd like to admit.
11. The Nutmeg Challenge
Would you believe a common holiday spice can make you hallucinate? Well, it can when people down spoonfuls of nutmeg. They are not realizing they're signing up for a terrible trip to the emergency room and possibly the worst headache of their lives.
12. The Banana-Sprite Challenge
Mix bananas and Sprite, and apparently, you've got yourself a recipe for disaster. A combo like this creates a stomach explosion, and it has been hurting kids since the challenge became popular. It's all the more important for educators to explain how fruit and soda create such chaos.
13. The Hot Dog Speed Eating Challenge
Competitive eaters make it look easy, but speed-eating hot dogs is like playing Russian roulette with your throat. The reason is that hot dogs are one of the most common choking hazards, even when eaten normally. Add speed to the equation, and people are really testing fate.
14. The Salt Shot Challenge
After a viral video showed a teenager downing a salt shaker, this dangerous trend exploded across TikTok and Instagram. It's risky because our kidneys cannot tolerate this much salt at once. Any knowledgeable person can explain how spoonfuls of salt might land you in the ICU.
15. The Rice Rush
In the rice rush challenge, people are competing to eat uncooked rice. However, our digestive system isn't built to process raw grains like this. Still, there are many participants who haven't stopped themselves (or others) from attempting this challenge that can hurt their stomach.
16. The Wasabi Challenge
A TikTok trend had people stuffing handfuls of "wasabi" into their mouths, not realizing they were actually eating dyed horseradish paste! That spicy paste is way more concentrated than real wasabi. Ever since the challenge was out, it has resulted in severe allergic reactions.
17. The Ice Cream Chomp
In late 2023, dentists reported a wave of cracked teeth from TikTok's latest trend. The "Ice Cream Challenge" had participants biting into rock-hard, frozen ice cream at temperatures close to 0°F. Even if your teeth don't crack on the spot, the impact is severe and can be noticed later in life.
Roland Tanglao from Vancouver, Canada on Wikimedia
18. The Soy Sauce Tsunami
Someone challenged TikTokers to chug entire bottles of soy sauce, apparently forgetting that sodium poisoning is a serious threat. A bottle typically packs a whopping 200% of daily sodium per tablespoon, and drinking it straight sent several teens to the ER with seizures and brain swelling.
19. The Raw Meat Challenge
The Raw Meat Challenge is exactly what it sounds like—participants eat raw meat, such as steak, fish, or even chicken. While some people might think it's a "cool" or "edgy" challenge, raw meat, especially poultry, can cause severe food poisoning.
20. The Shiny Glass Fruit Challenge
This is where people dip fruit into molten sugar to make it look like a glass. It may sound okay, but here's the kicker: the sugar's heated to over 300°F (149°C), which can lead to some serious burns if it spills! In 2023 alone, many kids were reported getting burned from the hot sugar.
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