Featured Image Credit: @sanqian9237/Douyin
Topics: World News, China
Anish Vij
A Chinese content creator has died shortly after attempting an online challenge which involved drinking excessive amounts of alcohol.
The 35-year-old was reportedly found dead 12 hours after his broadcast on Douyin - China's version of TikTok - on 16 May.
Sanqiange, also known as Brother Three Thousand, had allegedly been banned from the platform in the past due to drinking during live streams.
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One of his friends told Shangyou News that Sanqiange – whose real surname is said to be Wang – had taken part in a 'PK' challenge against another influencer.
'PK' challenges involve one-on-one battles to win rewards and gifts from viewers.
After taking part in four one-on-one battles, he lost three of the rounds.
As a 'punishment' he drank bottles of Baiju, a strong spirit containing up to 60 percent alcohol.
Viewers report that he drank at least seven bottles that evening.
His funeral was said to have been held on Saturday.
“I don’t know how much he had consumed before I tuned in. But in the latter part of the video, I saw him finish three bottles before starting on a fourth,” the friend, identified only as Zhao, told the outlet.
“The PK games ended at around 1 a.m. and by 1 p.m., (when his family found him) he was gone,” he added.
Earlier this year, 13-year-old Jacob Stevens died after taking part in the 'Benadryl Challenge' on TikTok where participants take six times the recommended dose of the antihistamines to induce hallucinations.
After being put on a ventilator in hospital, Jacob’s father, Justin, was devastated to learn that his son would not wake up.
“It was too much for his body,” the father told ABC 6.
“No brain scan, there was nothing there.
“They said we could keep him on the vent, that he could lay there — but he will never open his eyes, he’ll never breathe, smile, walk or talk.”
A spokesperson from TikTok told UNILAD: "As we make clear in our Community Guidelines, we do not allow content that shows or promotes dangerous activities and challenges.
"Though we have not seen this content trend on our platform, we have blocked searches related to it since 2020 and will continue to actively remove content that violates our guidelines."
The Food and Drug Administration previously put out a statement warning about the 'serious problems with high doses of the allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl)'.
"The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is warning that taking higher than recommended doses of the common over-the-counter (OTC) allergy medicine diphenhydramine (Benadryl) can lead to serious heart problems, seizures, coma, or even death," it said.
"We are aware of news reports of teenagers ending up in emergency rooms or dying after participating in the 'Benadryl Challenge' encouraged in videos posted on the social media application TikTok."