Dangerous Tik Tok Challenges That Are Not Worth the Fame

What are you willing to do for your five minutes of fame? Would you risk your safety to become an instant TikTok celebrity? TikTok challenges can be your ticket to stardom or a fun way to pass the time. Whether you’re a YOLO or FOMO school of thought disciple, some dangerous Tik Tok challenges are not worth the views and likes. It would help if you had all eyes on you for the right reasons — not for some of these hazardous stunts. Before you continue reading, heed this warning: Do NOT try these at home.

The Dark Side of TIKTOK: 10 Most Dangerous Tik Tok Challenges

Achieving celebrity status on TikTok is easier than on other platforms. Jump on a viral TikTok trend, and you can easily connect with a massive audience. Some TikTok challenges, however, are not worth instant fame. Here are 10 of the most dangerous Tik Tok challenges that should be cautionary tales.

1. TikTok Trend Blackout Challenge

The deadliest among the most dangerous Tik Tok challenges is the “blackout challenge.” This infamous TikTok trend “blackout challenge” is also known as the “pass-out challenge” or the “fainting game.” How does it work? Participants choke themselves or hold their breaths until they pass out.

You don’t have to be smarter than a fifth grader to know this challenge has potentially life-threatening consequences. Unfortunately, the internet has inadvertently reversed humanity’s intellectual evolution and turned countless users into mindless minions.

What could go wrong? You could die. And the “blackout challenge” quickly turned into an internet-age tragedy when it caused at least 20 deaths in children aged 14 and below.

The TikTok trend emerged in 2021, but the dare has been making the rounds online since at least 2008. The CDC linked the trend to more than 80 deaths when it first surfaced.

Doctors have cautioned everyone against participating in the said challenge. Severe brain damage can result if your brain is without oxygen for over three minutes. Death can occur if the brain is without oxygen for over five minutes.

2. Dangerous Tik Tok Challenge Wwith Basketball and Beer

Like many viral and dangerous Tik Tok challenges, the “basketball beer challenge” seems to have come straight out of a Jackass episode. How does it work?

You hold a basketball in your hands while balancing a bottle of beer on top of it. And then you let go of the basketball and try to catch the bottle. It sounds like a fun dare, right? What’s the worst that could happen? You’ll probably break a lot of beer bottles before you successfully catch one. The bottle or broken pieces of it could also hit you in the face (this happened). The ball could bounce against your crotch.

Don’t attempt this stunt when you’re already three sheets to the wind. But lo and behold! The hashtag #basketballbeerchallenge has raked in more than five million views on the platform.

3. Nyquil Chicken or “Sleepy Chicken” TikTok Challenge

There are tons of crazy food recipes, and the “NyQuil chicken” or “sleepy chicken” recipe sounds crazy enough to make Gordon Ramsay explode in a fit of rage and curses. This dangerous Tik Tok challenge belongs in the book of recipes for disaster.

The “sleepy chicken” challenge involves soaking and cooking a dressed chicken in a NyQuil marinade. It doesn’t sound appetizing. But if you’re suffering from the cold or flu, the recipe may seem like the perfect concoction to give you a full stomach and a good night’s sleep!

However, those who participated in the challenge did so simply for the heck of it. Most videos also showed people filming their reactions when they tasted the radioactive-looking dish.

NyQuil is a popular over-the-counter medicine that treats common cold and flu symptoms. It contains acetaminophen, dextromethorphan HBr, and doxylamine succinate. Unsurprisingly, the FDA released an advisory in response to this featherbrained trend.

The government health agency explained, “Boiling a medication can make it much more concentrated and change its properties in other ways. It could also hurt your lungs. Put simply: Someone could take a dangerously high amount of the cough and cold medicine without even realizing it.”

4. The Skull Breaker Dangerous TikTok Challenge

This dangerous Tik Tok challenge can break your skull. Reports trace this seriously foolhardy and juvenile craze to Venezuela, where it is known as “rompcráneos,” which translates to “skull breaker.”

Here’s how the challenge works. Three people stand next to each other—the two individuals on both ends of the line jump in place. The person in the middle jumps next, and the other two kick his feet or lower legs while he’s mid-jump. The middle person, of course, ends up crashing backward.

There have been injuries reported in Florida, New Jersey, and Arizona. Once again, doctors had to jump in (pun not intended) and try to stop the trending stunt. They warned people that the challenge could cause severe and life-threatening injuries, including skull fractures, paralysis, or death.

5. Dangerous Tik Tok Challenges Wwith Benadryl

Almost everyone on social media engages in attention-seeking behaviors. Participating in dangerous Tik Tok challenges are leveling their game to be in the spotlight.
Did participants in the “Benadryl challenge” have delusions of TikTok grandeur?

Taking excessive antihistamine medication to induce hallucinations while filming themselves will make people want to watch. Unfortunately, overdosing on diphenhydramine (Benadryl) causes more than just hallucinations. It can lead to seizures, cardiac arrest, coma, or death. In the U.S., there has been at least one report of a death associated with this challenge.

Johnson & Johnson, the pharmaceutical company that manufactures Benadryl, and the FDA issued PSAs warning the public not to abuse the medication.

6. The “Cha-cha Slide” Dangerous TikTok Challenge

We should leave car stunts to stunt actors and Tom Cruise. Or you could pretend you’re in the nth installment of The Fast and the Furious by playing a VR racing game. Driving like a maniac to participate in the dangerous Tik Tok challenge “Cha-Cha slide” is not cool.

The devil-may-care challenge involves swerving all over the road in time with lyrics of the Cha-Cha Slide dance anthem by DJ Casper. When the song says, “Slide to the left,” you have to slide to the left; when it says, “Slide to the right,” you swerve to the right. As expected, the stunt led to minor injuries and near-accidents, including a car almost flipping over.

7. Dangerous Tik Tok Challenges Wwith Milk Crates

The “milk crate” challenge is another half-witted idea that went viral via TikTok. Like other dangerous Tik Tok challenges, this one is break-your-neck risky. It makes you wonder why anybody would think, “That looks fun! I’m going to try it!”

It would help if you did not attempt this death-defying stunt unless you’re a professional gymnast, a well-trained acrobat, or a bona fide ninja. To complete the challenge, a participant must try to climb a perilously high and unstable stack of milk crates.

It doesn’t take a wild imagination to figure out that the challenge resulted in scrapes, bruises, and other injuries. According to orthopedic surgeon Dr. Shawn Anthony, participants in the “milk crate” challenge can suffer from broken wrists, shoulder dislocations, ACL and meniscus tears, and life-threatening conditions like spinal cord injuries.

The challenge earned an estimated 17 million views on TikTok. But the platform stepped up and banned the challenge and all related videos. TikTok also released a statement saying, “TikTok prohibits content that promotes or glorifies dangerous acts, and we remove videos and redirect searches to our Community Guidelines to discourage such content. We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off.”

8. Dragon’s Breath Dangerous Tik Tok Challenge

Dangerous Tik Tok challenges that involve children are awful. The “dragon’s breath” challenge is an excellent example of a bad fad. The challenge involved candies coated in liquid nitrogen. The vapor from the liquid nitrogen creates a “dragon’s breath” effect when kids eat the sweets.

The challenge sent more than 20 children in Indonesia to the hospital after suffering from skin burns, stomach aches, and food poisoning. What kid wouldn’t jump at the chance to “breathe out smoke” like a dragon? Add candies to the picture, and you’ll have a different and more unfortunate version of Hansel and Gretel lured by the yummy house made of sweet treats.

9. TikTok Trend Kia Challenge

An auto-theft hack turned viral challenge; the TikTok trend Kia challenge reportedly resulted in “hundreds of car thefts nationwide, including at least 14 reported crashes and eight fatalities.”

The challenge encouraged people to start a Kia car using a USB cable in its ignition. The hack was made possible by the lack of electronic immobilizers that should prevent attempts to bypass the ignition in many 2015-2019 Hyundai and Kia vehicles. This anti-theft feature is standard vehicle equipment manufactured by other brands within the same period.

In response to the rash of car thefts, Hyundai and Kia started offering free software updates for all vehicle models with the said vulnerability.

10. Dangerous Tik Tok Challenge With Corn Cob

There’s a more exciting way to eat corn on the cob. Stick a power drill in a corn cob. Turn on the drill. And chomp away. Why bother using your hands when a spinning drill can feed you corn kernels more efficiently? This “corn cob” challenge qualifies as a dangerous Tik Tok challenge!

Singer Jason Derulo tried it and chipped his front teeth. Perhaps he could’ve polished it off without a hitch if he had slathered some garlic butter on the corn! A rotating power drill anywhere near your face is a bad idea. Putting it in your mouth is downright dumb.

Derulo learned the lesson the painful way. He captioned his now-viral video, “Don’t try this 😭😭😭.” Hopefully, none of his followers did.

Dare To Grow Your TikTok Brand the Right Way

Jumping on dangerous Tik Tok challenges can earn you tons of views and engagement. But trending TikTok challenges can only take you so far. Unless your brand is all about daredevil stunts and risky tomfoolery, you must take serious steps to grow your TikTok brand correctly.

TikTok is about building genuine connections based on shared interests and passions. It would help if you found the right audience for your content, your tribe, to establish a strong presence on the platform. You need an active, loyal community to sustain your brand’s success on the platform.

Let an expert in TikTok growth management guide your TikTok strategy. A company like High Social will give you precise audience-targeting capability to gain authentic and genuinely interested followers. High Social’s proprietary, advanced AI technology will identify real TikTok users already looking for the same content you’re offering.

You will also benefit from the expert guidance of High Social’s team of social media specialists. They will help you generate more interest and views for your content through targeted promotion.

Let High Social fine-tune your audience-targeting strategy so you can reach genuinely interested and actively engaged users. Level up your TikTok game and get the exposure you need. Start growing your TikTok today!

TikTok 101