Viral challenges are nothing new. In the beginning, they were an innocent way for people around the world to come together and have fun. The worst thing that happened to participants of the “Cinamon Challenge” was that they’d end up having to drink a lot of water.

Then they started to take on a more sinister guise in early 2015 with the “Kylie Jenner Lip Challenge”.

It involved teens sucking the air out of shot glasses for prolonged periods of time in an attempt to imitate the cosmetic mogul’s famous surgically enhanced pout. This came with the risk of bruising from swollen blood vessels and potentially long-term damage.

When the “Tide Pod Challenge” hit the headlines in late 2017, many people thought that humankind’s stupidity had finally peaked. The ingestion of detergent was the most dangerous challenge to date, and it led to countless people being hospitalized around the world.

In fact, many doctors were forced to warn that consuming detergent can cause fatal internal damage. As if that wasn’t already obvious enough.

Now, hot on the heels of the viral stupidity of “Tide Pod Challenge”, there’s a new way to hurt yourself on social media!

One of the most painful experiences of my early life came when I put my hand on a burning coil. To my then three-year-old mind, there was something appealing about the red surface of the oven, and I had no idea that it would be excruciatingly painful.

When my mom was gone, or at least, when I assume she was, I decided to put my hand on the coil. I ended up swiftly being rushed to the nearest hospital and having to spend weeks of my life having my hand regularly rebandaged as my wound healed.

But at least I had the excuse of being a toddler, unlike the guy in the video below…

The “Hot Coil Challenge” involves people placing their arm on the coil of an oven for as long as possible.

It wouldn’t take a rocket scientist to work out that those who participate are engaging in a bizarre form of self-harm that could scar them for life. While my hand thankfully healed up, it’s unlikely that any participants of this would be left without some serious bodily harm.

Needless to say, those who have seen the above video were quick to make their disproval known, with YouTube user Steven McKinney writing, “We are not a species meant to survive” and others echoing this point describing it as “Darwinism at its finest”.

“I love this! We’re branding all the idiots, make them easily identifiable,” added predster141.

The “Hot Coil Challenge” is particularly dangerous because many participants of such trends often try to one-up their predecessors.

The challenge first surfaced yesterday on Reddit, according to UniLad, and the video above quickly went viral.

The man from the video is pictured below inspecting his self-inflicted burn.

While it’s not known if it has inspired anyone else to scold themselves like this, if the “Tide Pod Challenge” is anything to go by, it’s more than likely that at least one other person will temporarily put down their detergent and have a go at mutilating their arm instead of their internal organs.

The top comment on Reddit simply read, “Well, that was f*cking stupid.”

In an attempt to shed light on the dangers of viral challenges, the video below details what happened to the lungs of a boy who ate three Tide Pods because he wanted to become “Internet famous”:

It should really go without saying, but please don’t even consider trying a challenge this dangerous yourself.

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