TikTok chip challenge leaving people hospitalised: 'I couldn’t breathe'
A new viral food trend is having dangerous consequences with people being admitted to hospital for treatment.
Paqui, a tortilla chip brand known for spicy flavours, has racked up a large following for its One Chip Challenge.
Featuring a single chip made from two of the world’s spiciest chili peppers, the product comes in a coffin-shaped box promising “one extremely hot tortilla chip.”
“This year’s high voltage chip contains the supercharged Carolina Reaper Pepper and stinging Scorpion Pepper with a shocking twist, it’ll turn your tongue blue,” the company’s website reads.
As part of the dare, customers are encouraged to devour the chip whole and then wait as long as possible before eating or drinking “anything for relief.”
A ranking system on the company’s website, titled ‘how long can you last before you short circuit,’ deems under one minute as powerless and over an hour as invincible.
But not everyone can handle the heat.
‘I couldn’t breathe’
TikTok user Angela took to social media to share the horrors of this popular trend.
In a video, which has since been viewed more than 10.8 million times, her niece can be seen preparing to eat the chip before she ends up in hospital.
An image reveals the young woman dressed in a hospital gown and sitting in bed with her head in her hands.
In a further clip, the patient went on to explain that she had accepted a $50 bet from her uncle to do the challenge.
“I was like ‘ok bet’, easy money right, [but] little did I know,” she told followers.
“So I ate the chip right and they stopped recording because it was so bad, like I felt like I couldn’t breathe.
From there, it went from bad to worse.
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"I was sitting on the bed and my stomach started burning, like really, really bad and I was like, I can't handle this,” she said.
“I started crying. It was bad.
“So we went to the hospital right and they had to give me multiple medicine but it didn’t really work and then after like three hours it finally worked and here I am.”
‘The worst stomach pain ever’
While the young woman laughed off the incident, fellow TikTokers weren’t so sure.
“This is the second video I’ve seen in the last 24 hours where paramedics had to be called because of this,” one person wrote.
“My husband tried this a year ago and ended up in hospital, and still has stomach issues today,” another said.
“My boyfriend did it,” someone else claimed. “It was the worst thing I ever watched him go through.”
Others begged users not to try it for themselves, warning of painful outcomes.
“I had the worst stomach pain ever, I was in the fetal position,” someone wrote.
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