Top 10 Most Dangerous Things YouTubers Have Done for Views

“Brave Wilderness” is a channel that advertises itself as a “one stop connection to a wild world of adventure and amazing up close animal encounters!” It is arguably best known for its insect bites and stings though. Host Coyote Peterson gets personal with some angry insects and is frequently stung on purpose. Don’t get us wrong; this can be educational, but it is also dangerous in that the audience for these types of channels is likely to be young and impressionable. Let's be honest: kids frequently ignore disclaimers, and Peterson willingly gets stung by some of the most aggressive insects out there, writhing in pain for viewers. The channel’s merch includes Peterson’s own version of the Schmidt Sting Pain Index on a poster and a t-shirt, if you too wish to commemorate this man’s suffering.

Ah, “Pokemon Go”: the literal “get off my lawn” of mobile games. In 2016, Russian YouTuber Ruslan Sokolovsky uploaded a video of himself playing the game in Yekaterinburg’s Orthodox Church of All Saints. In the video, Sokolovsky mentioned recent news reports citing Russia’s intolerance for playing the game on religious sites and how he didn’t understand it. Well, he messed around and found out. After the video went viral, he was arrested and charged with “inciting religious hatred”; Russia is serious about blasphemy. Sokolovsky faced 5 years in prison, but was eventually given a 3 ½ year suspended sentence. You might not agree with all laws and regulations, but it’s probably not a good idea to test them.

When it comes to food, there’s figurative inhaling and there’s literal inhaling. This guy does both. The L.A. Beast, or skippy62able on YouTube, is a competitive eater who regularly posts videos of himself eating and inhaling foods. Though skippy does have a “don’t try this at home” message fronting his YouTube channel, it’s unfortunately been seen that doing dumb things for views is contagious. He eats expired foods, for example, chugging a 20 year old bottle of Crystal Pepsi. Arguably the most hazardous is his video instructing viewers on how to inhale alcohol, i.e. getting drunk without drinking. Vaporized and inhaled alcohol sends fumes directly to the lungs, bloodstream and brain, causing the consumer to get drunk rapidly as well as giving them a heightened risk of alcohol poisoning.

Around the beginning of 2018 what had been a running joke on social media became a dangerous challenge. The joke was that Tide Pods look like candy, so it seems like it’d be nice to eat them. However, this soon shockingly became a reality, as scores of teens began posting videos of themselves eating the toxic laundry detergent packets. The Pods had already caused at least 8 deaths in the 6 years prior to the challenge, and would subsequently cause major problems. If consumed, the Pods can cause chemical burns to the lips, tongue and esophagus, which leads to swelling and shortness of breath. Complications thereafter can lead to need for surgery or even death.

We all know what happens to robbers, right? Well, clearly some YouTubers aren’t aware. In 2015, prank channel Trollstation staged two robberies in London: one at the National Portrait Gallery and another (which included a fake kidnapping) at Tate Britain. They entered wearing stockings over their heads and carrying fake paintings in bags, which they then pretended to steal. At the Portrait Gallery, they played a false alarm causing patrons to run for the exits and at least one woman to faint. At the Tate, the group faked robbery as well as pretending to take a hostage. They were all arrested that same day, and each sentenced to between 16 and 20 weeks in jail.

This is something that is a frequent problem with clout-chasing, but let’s focus on one incident. In 2017, YouTuber Ragestew decided to find and trespass on popular YouTuber and rapper RiceGum’s property. In the livestream video, he seemed quite proud that some stalker-like behavior led to his finding out where RiceGum lives in Los Angeles. Well, as one would expect, he was confronted by some of Ricegum’s friends and can be heard asking them “what’s illegal?”, to which he receives a loud “it’s trespassing!” response. Well this is true and in California, the use of “reasonable force” to evict a trespasser from one’s property is permissible. Also, it’s probably not wise to livestream yourself trespassing so the homeowners can watch you while you’re doing it.

YouTube pranks really get out of hand when they start to take advantage of unfortunate, defenseless individuals for a few views. In 2019, YouTuber ReSet was sentenced to 15 months in prison as well as compensating his victim $22,300. The crime? ReSet had replaced the filling in Oreo cookies with toothpaste and offered them to an unhoused man. In the video, he can be seen asking the man if he’s hungry, then giving him the cookies and 20 euros. He also said that this was a positive thing, as the man had likely not brushed his teeth “since he became poor.” ReSet, or Kanghua Ren, was justifiably charged with “a crime against moral integrity.”

YouTube prankster Vitaly Zdorovetskiy or VitalyzdTv staged a number of elaborate pranks, so honestly there are several to choose from when considering dangerous or illegal actions. Let’s just focus on one: the Russian hitman prank. In 2012, when Vitaly was in Boca Raton, Florida, he walked up to a man and placed a briefcase on the ground. He informed the man that he had a minute to get away from the briefcase, implying that it would explode. When Vitaly revealed it to be a prank, the victim was understandably enraged and alerted the cops. The prankster was arrested and faced up to 15 years in prison for threats of detonation. The case, however, was dismissed.

In 2017, Pedro Ruiz wanted to try something out for views: seeing if a close range .50-caliber bullet would pass through an encyclopedia he was holding in front of himself. He had reportedly spent over a month begging his pregnant girlfriend Monalisa Perez to shoot the gun for the stunt when she finally gave in. The bullet went through the book and into Ruiz’s chest, proving fatal. Perez was sentenced to 6 months in prison, as well as banned from owning firearms and any financial gain resulting from the incident.

In 2021, YouTuber Trevor Jacob decided it’d be a great idea to crash a plane for views. At the time, Jacob claimed it was an accident but more recently admitted to doing it on purpose. The initial video drew skepticism and the crash was investigated by the Federal Aviation Administration as is custom. The FAA revoked Jacob’s license in April of 2022. Two days after the crash, Jacob reported it but lied about not knowing where it landed. He then went to retrieve the wreckage and destroyed it, which resulted in the recent charge of “destruction and concealment with the intent to obstruct a federal investigation,” and thus the possibility of up to 20 years in prison.