Taking a break from watching guitar covers, movie scenes, “Pulp Fiction” converted to Shakespearean language, things pertaining to “Black Ops 2: Zombies” (“Buried” is still a confusing map for those in the know), and the occasional political stuff, I decided to explore another side of YouTube, the endurance side.

There are a lot of “challenge” videos on YouTube.com, and going in to them I thought they’d be things like feats of athletic prowess, endurance and strength. Instead, what I found was endurance, no doubt, but also stupidity and probably even danger. Are there people out there that are twisted, that want to see YouTube users suffer and vomit? Other than to garner views on YouTube, is there really any reason why anyone would want to attempt any of these supposed challenges? Challenges like:

The bananas and Sprite challenge- Participants must eat two bananas and drink a liter’s worth of Sprite in a short time without vomiting.

The Saltine challenge- Participants must eat six Saltine crackers (crumbs and all) in 60 seconds without drinking anything. (A variant of this takes place every year in Grafton, where participants must eat four Saltines and then try to whistle.) It seems easy, but some have reported an inability to masticate (produce saliva, chew and swallow) from as early as the second or third cracker.

The ghost pepper challenge- Participants must eat one (or more) Bhut Jolokia chili pepper, also known as the “ghost pepper”. Sounds simple enough, but ghost peppers, at a rank of near 1 million Scovilles (the unit used to measure how spicy hot a pepper is by how much capsaicin is present), are some of the hottest peppers in the world. (It’s not the hottest though. The Trinidad Moruga Scorpion is the hottest, measuring near 2 million Scovilles.) A pepper that hot causes pain. Some who have eaten it have reported vomiting, crying, and temporarily becoming a wimp.

The cinnamon challenge- Participants must eat a tablespoon of cinnamon. This gets all up in the mucous membranes, dries up the saliva, and becomes difficult to swallow.

The ‘centurion’ challenge- This is based off an old drinking game known as “Centurion”. Participants, in the videos there are at least three, must drink 100 shots of beer for 100 minutes, that’s one shot per minute. In a lot of videos on this, participants don’t get to 100 before hurling their guts out. (A variant of this is called a “power hour”, in which a specified amount of a certain spirit must be consumed within an hour.)

The gallon challenge- Participants have an hour to chug a gallon of milk without vomiting.

Spirit chugging challenge- This is where some people chug a bottle of a certain spirit, whiskey, tequila, etc., the entire bottle within a very short timespan. This is a dangerous challenge because one can get very drunk very quickly while doing this, and people are affected differently by alcohol. Throwing up may be the least of whomever does this’s problems.

The warhead challenge- Any Generation Y child is probably familiar with Warheads, the extremely sour candy that makes other sour candies seem weak by comparison. Now imagine eating a bunch of them at once. That’s the warhead challenge.

The gauntlet challenge- An insane combination. It takes the gallon, ghost pepper, warhead, and cinnamon challenges together and adds another, the two packs of Mentos and a Diet Coke challenge (which fizzes and shoots out in a volatile manner). (A common variant of the gauntlet challenge includes eating six habanero peppers and 15 warheads, in addition to the diet coke and cinnamon challenges.)

The salt and ice challenge- Participants must pour salt on themselves (how much salt and on which body part is left to the participants’ discretion) and then add ice. This causes a painful “burning” sensation, one that participants must try and stand for the longest time. This challenge can cause injuries similar to frostbite, damage nerves, and cause second to third degree burns. It also literally leaves a mark, regardless of completion or failure.

That last one doesn’t sound like a challenge. That sounds more like a horrifying method of torture.

The promise of fame can be a motivator to do anything, but fame through stupidity, heck, fame in general is fleeting. As such, there’s really no reason anyone should want to or even do any of the above “challenges”. But then again, something that one person may find to be stupid or disgusting could be seen as entertaining to someone else.

On Bryce’s Mind recommends really not doing any of these challenges, but if you’re going to, then please don’t put it on the web. (It may be one of the most embarrasing things you’ll do.) Also, please take any and all neccessary precautions. (I really don’t want to see “So-and-So threw caution to the wind and died trying to swallow cinnamon” in someone’s obituary.)