Chubby Bunny Live: The Internet’s Most Infamous Challenges

DISCLAIMER: Please do not try any of these challenges at home. 

[GloZell Green from Youtube, GloZell on tape] Hey this is GloZell is you okay is you good cause I wanted to know.

MORIAH PETTWAY: In the spirit of challenges, Bazil and I are here to discuss some of the most popular challenges that have defined YouTube history.

BAZIL FRUEH: Since the dawn of the platform, challenges have captured the attention of risk seekers, proto-influencers, laypeople, and everyone in between. It’s hard to find someone who has not taken part in one of these trends or at least knows someone that has. 

MP: But why have these challenges become so popular? The impulse to participate in these trends stems from a desire to be accepted and praised by peers. Northwestern media psychology PhD candidate Callie Kalny explains this phenomenon:  

CALLIE KALNY: And I think if we look at the population that tends to participate in these challenges, it tends to skew much younger. And that sort of helps explain why people would participate. Um, younger people tend to overestimate the rewards of risky behavior. So if all your friends are, it’s sort of the classic peer pressure example, right, if all your friends are doing it and the reward that can come from that behavior of doing the ice burn challenge is laughter or popularity or going viral,  younger people might be more, um, they might feel like that reward is a little bit more tangible than any risk of like a third degree burn.

MP: First, let’s talk about an internet classic. The Cinnamon challenge was originally popularized by YouTuber GloZell Green, who you heard at the top of the story. The aim of the challenge was to attempt to swallow a spoonful of cinnamon, often resulting in coughing and choking. 

Here’s Weinberg junior Miller Watson on his experience eating the spice:

MILLER WATSON: My sister put me up to it because they were on the Internet at that time, and I was kind of unaware of the effects of this so they thought it’d be funny If I were to try to fill in and show friends and whatever and so mean, not having eaten any cinnamon before, so it’s gonna be easy and took a whole spoonful of cinnamon and tried to swallow it in one and of course that me coughing and gagging and just getting it all over and then somehow they may be cleaning it up. 

BF: Speaking of spicy things, the next two challenges involve eating hot foods. The ghost pepper challenge saw participants filming themselves trying to handle one of the world’s hottest peppers. The one chip challenge was similar, except with the food of choice being a devilishly hot tortilla chip rather than a pepper. 

MP: To cool things down a bit, let’s talk about the gallon challenge. The goal of this challenge was to attempt to drink an entire gallon of milk in one hour without throwing up. Obviously, the results were not the prettiest. 

BF: On the topic of nasty things, let’s move on to the banana sprite challenge. Similar to the gallon challenge, this one saw participants try to eat two bananas and chug a liter of sprite as fast as possible. You can see where this one is going.

MP: You know what’s also gross? The bean boozled challenge. I remember doing this with my friends at a sleepover and I still can taste the skunk spray bean till this day. Kalny mentions how these challenges can foster a sense of community, 

CK: So, you know, I do think there are probably circumstances in which the, the outcome of the challenge itself, maybe benefits, um, society more broadly. And I think that’s exactly what makes them difficult. Is that people do engage with them because they see it, they see their engagement as participating in a broader community.  

MP: Though some of these might seem like light-hearted fun, some challenges can be dangerous for that peer pressure reason we mentioned earlier. 

BF: Yeah absolutely. Here’s Kalny on more about that:

CK: So a YouTube challenge. There’s sort of this spectrum of challenges. So you have, like you mentioned, the Bean Boozled Challenge. You know, the risk of engaging in that is probably low. The worst thing that could happen is that you get, like, a vomit flavored jelly bean. Then on the other hand, you have very dangerous challenges, like the Tide Pod Challenge, or before our call, I was reading about the ice burn challenge, which apparently I guess is a thing where you put salt on your hand and then you put ice on it. Um, obviously the potential for harm with these challenges is much higher.

BF: Not all of them are dangerous. The ice bucket challenge, for example, brought attention to ALS, a neurodegenerative disease. Kalny emphasizes how she distinctly remembers doing the ice bucket challenge for the ALS cause:

CK: And there was this sense of like, we’re not just engaging in this for— to go viral on Facebook, but where, you know, it was something like every video will be a donation to the, um, to ALS society or something like that. So, you know, I do think there are probably circumstances in which the outcome of the challenge itself, maybe benefits, um, society more broadly.

BF: In a similar vein, the mannequin challenge took the world by storm back in 2016. Set to Rae Sremmurd’s hit song Black Beatles, the challenge was easily replicated, happening in places like schools, newsrooms, and even concerts. 

Here’s Medill sophomore Grace Jordan-Weinstein on her experience taking part:

GRACE JORDAN-WEINSTEIN: I was in a Spanish class and because of that the whole class asked the teacher if we could do the mannequin challenge and he said yes, naturally. And so we played the song and everyone was striking poses and one boy picked up another kid like military style over his shoulder and then had to hold it like that just because he could. It was pretty fun. I don’t know where that video is.

BF: Some challenges also took on a more paranormal undertone. Personally, I can remember trying the charlie charlie pencil challenge in the time of my life where I was obsessed with all things creepy. I wasn’t able to get my hands on a Ouija board, so my sister and I made the four quadrant paper and laid out the pencils, hoping to connect with the spirit world. 

MP: So, did it actually move?

BF: Girl what do you think? 

MP: If that was too creepy for you—you might remember the Kylie Jenner lip challenge. This one saw people try to recreate the celebrity’s lips by sucking air into a cup-like object.

BF: Here’s Medill junior Chloe Mintz on her experience trying to get Jenner’s luscious lips:

CHLOE MINTZ: So my eighth grade class took a trip to Washington D.C., and as we were driving around D.C. on one of the buses, we for whatever reason had gotten very bored after singing Party in the USA too many times. And we thought that we would just use the water bottles to mimic the Kylie Jenner lip challenge. It  was really uncomfortable. My lips did not survive. No, just kidding, they’re fine. But it was not a good experience. My mom was also a chaperone, so then she got mad at me.

MP: Finally, this wouldn’t be a story about internet challenges if we didn’t at least try one ourselves. To end our story, we’re going to try the chubby bunny challenge. 

[nat sound: Moriah and Bazil doing the chubby bunny challenge while talking about it]

MP: For WNUR News, I’m Moriah Pettway.

BF: And I’m Bazil Frueh. 

[nat sound: laughing]