What is the TikTok 'death wish challenge'? Turkish influencer's dangerous act slammed as possibly lethal
NOTE: MEAWW is only reporting on this trend, and under no circumstance do we encourage anyone to try it. In fact we advise all our readers not to. If, however, you have an impressionable mind and easily succumb to suggestion, then please stop reading now.
Dangerous TikTok challenges are a dime a dozen. TikTokers often have no qualms in putting themselves and even others in the way of danger if it means they will get their 15 minutes of viral fame. This time around, a Turkish TikToker decided that it would be a good idea to pose in front of a moving bus.
In a video posted on April 30, 2021, Turkish TikTok user @onurnayir appears to pose in front of a moving bus on a busy highway. While the video has now been deleted from his profile, it has already been shared on other social media platforms.
The video has been called out for the sheer recklessness of the act and the danger it poses -- not just to the TikToker himself but also those around him. Needless to say, netizens who have viewed the clip are not happy.
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What is the 'death wish' challenge?
The short clip sees the TikToker wandering onto a multi-lane highway as a bus approaches from behind, with a seeming 'death wish'. From the video, it looks like the driver managed to slow down his vehicle in time to avoid causing any harm. Towards the end of the video, the TikToker looks back at the bus before walking forward and posing awkwardly for the camera.
While this challenge does not appear to have gained a foothold on TikTok, viewers on Reddit couldn’t help but worry that videos like @onurnayir’s may inspire others to have a 'death wish' too.
The video reportedly garnered more than 1 million views on TikTok before being deleted but managed to earn only 20,000 likes. But when it was posted on Reddit, it made its way to the r/facepalm, a Reddit community about the “stupidity of people online and IRL,” where people share images and video clips of "stupid" actions. It took no time for @onurnayir's video to go viral. At the time of writing this article, the video had amassed more than 18,000 upvotes and a long line of critical comments.
Reddit users did not hold back when criticising @onurnayir’s antics. On the video, one user commented, "If having a death wish was a person." One user pointed out how his TikTok page is filled with videos along similar lines. "I just looked at his TikTok. He has tons of videos exactly like this. What an a**hole," another user pointed out.
The TikToker's page has many videos where the young man poses around moving vehicles, whether he’s wandering in front of them, exiting them, or just being near them, especially cars.
"Survival of the fittest," many users tweeted along this line. "Gotta love with pseudo-fame gets to your head, then people do stupid shit and die for said pseudo-fame. Just let darwinism do its job and stop giving them any light other than publicizing their deaths," one shared.
What makes it worse, Reddit users pointed out, is that the TikToker showed disregard for others. "If he wants to endanger his own life, sure, go ahead. But don't make some poor bus driver have to live with the fact that he killed someone." One commenter pointed out that because of his actions, @onurnayir could leave someone "traumatised for the rest of his life because he killed a person".
Others advocated he be punished for his stunt. “If they disregard their own life and seek to do extremely stupid things that only endanger themselfs, thats all fine,” user Single_Core wrote. “But to include others in these stupid and irresponsible actions should be punished. Harshly in my opinion.”
Apparently, TikToker @onurnayir has a penchant for capturing such stunts. According to the reports, he similarly posed in front of a moving tram one night in March 2020. At the time, the vehicle managed to stop just in time and the video got 3 million views. He also
