Notorious Neknominations Turn Into Nightmares

Everyone is in college here, and all know what it's like being challenged to chug a beer and most of the time: challenge accepted. Either it's accomplished and the chugger feels rather good about themselves for a split second, or they fail and move on with their night. Overall, it isn't the smartest idea. It may be fun from time to time, but be real, the 'neknominate' challenge isn't what's going to earn degrees and it most certainly will not land any jobs.

For those who may not be familiar with what the neknominate challenge is, it originated from Ross Samson in the U.K. who took a video of himself slugging down a beer in one sip and nominating his friends to do the same.

Once you are nominated, they have twenty-four hours to complete the challenge and pass it on to a few other friends, starting a chain reaction. When Samson's clip went viral, the 'neknominate' frenzy reached the U.S., now challenging fellow classmates.  It wasn't until these innocent and fun nominations turned into activities that soon lead to death and dangerous exploits that Samson wanted to abort his mission. "It's gone too far," said Samson. "[I would] rather not be attached to it any way any more."

Neknominations got its name from British slang word "necking" which means downing a pint of beer in one sip. If, by any means, the nominees don't complete the challenge on time, they will either face online mockery or be asked to buy the person who challenged them alcohol.

It was all fun and games until the nominations spiraled out of control with what was being consumed by players. What originally started out as a pint of beer, soon turned into booze followed by strange concoctions consisting of raw eggs, urine, engine oil, and even live goldfish. The game has gotten out of control.  People have also gone to the extremes of pulling stunts in their videos such as riding horses into grocery stores before chugging their drinks. Evidence of this game is noticeable everywhere.

"One Northern Irish man ... [was] filmed slicing the head off a bird, swallowing a live goldfish in a pint of gin and jumping off a cliff into the sea. He has since said he regretted the three-minute clip" - The Daily Telegrpah 

"One young man drank... a pint of vodka and a pint of mouthwash before eating a raw egg and snorting a line of protein shake powder." - Regional BritishNews

"A boy of 10 was filmed downing a sickening concoction of Nando's sauce, cream, mayonnaise and vodka after a dare."- Yahoo UK

Cosmopolitan Magazine confirms at least five deaths associated with the nominations. One death occurred from jumping into a river after the consumption of wine, whiskey, vodka, and lager.  Others have faced charges dealing with underage drinking, but these violent acts have not yet stopped the passing along of the nominations.

Videos are going viral, mostly associated on Facebook, but members of the company claim that there is not much they are able to do stating, "We do not tolerate content which is directly harmful, for example bullying, but behavior which some people may find offensive or controversial is not always necessarily against our rules. We encourage people to report things to us which they feel breaks our rules so we can review and take action on a case by case basis."

Neknominations have turned into an epidemic and it looks as though they will only continue to spread. Consuming mass amounts of alcohol and creating a bad image should not be on the top of anyone's list all in the pursuit of completing a challenge.