We're Doing the Wrong Physical Challenge

My childhood Saturday mornings were spent with me in front of a television watching cartoons while eating an enormous bowl of cereal. Looking back I want to believe the reason I was up early was because I knew life was so fresh and new that I did not want to miss a thing, but I know it was because I was to young to know the importance of sleeping in.

While Saturday mornings belonged to Captain N: The Game Master or whatever else NBC, CBS, and ABC could throw at my prepubescent mind, Saturday afternoons on the other hand were devoted to Nickelodeon. One of my favorite shows on the “first network for kids,” was Double Dare.

Double Dare was a 1986 game show, that featured two teams competing against each other by answering trivia questions. If a team could not answer the question they could dare the opposing team, the opposing team could then answer the question or double dare their opponents, who then could answer the original question or compete in a physical challenge.

Fill Your Cup

Now these physical challenges would have players doing silly acts such like becoming a human taco or wearing a lined cup on your head while your teammate shoots a liquid over to you. It was in a term harmless fun and for the most part safe.

Fast forward to 2014 and thanks to the Internet we have a whole set of physical challenges. The internet has given us online dating, Skype, social networking and YouTube. YouTube a video upload and sharing service has become the de facto home for these new physical challenges. These challenges unlike those hosted by the likable Marc Summers are anything but safe.

The Cinnamon Challenge objective was to film oneself trying to digest a spoonful of ground cinnamon without the assistance of a beverage. Its origin can be traced back to 2001 and still remains relevant today. The majority of videos resulted in the person doing the challenge coughing and sometimes gasping for air.

The Cinnamon Challenge though is pretty tame in comparison to the latest challenge taken YouTube by storm.

The Fire Challenge, yup fire. The same fire that amazed the cavemen thousands of years ago, the same fire that destroys forests in California every year, the same fire the claim lives in tragic accidents. People willingly put a flammable liquid on their bodies and set them on fire. This can result in 1st and 3rd degree burns, firefighters, police and anyone else with common sense have spoken out against this activity that has victims as young as 12.

Understanding that these individuals have a parasitic like need to be filmed doing something, I propose the Life Challenge. This challenge has a plethora of objectives you can mix and match like to go to school and maintain a decent GPA, or hold down a steady job, and take care of responsibilities such as bills, kids, or a relationship. You can even add a proper diet and exercise to the Life Challenge. The Life Challenge is just that flexible.

The Life Challenge might not grant you fame on the internet or a trip to the hospital, but the Life Challenge may actually extend your life, because you know “YOLO.”