The Viral Milk Crate Challenge Is Now Banned On TikTok—Here's Why

Korin Miller
·3 min read
2

  • TikTok is filled with questionable challenges, but some are definitely more dangerous than others.

  • Now, there’s a new one making the rounds that’s actually getting people injured.
    It’s called the milk crate challenge and it involves walking up “stairs” made from stacked milk crates.

  • Some medical experts are urging people not to try it at home.

TikTok is filled with questionable challenges, but some are definitely more dangerous than others (looking you, Tide Pod Challenge). Now, there’s a new one making the rounds that’s actually getting people injured.

It’s called the milk crate challenge and it involves walking up “stairs” made from stacked milk crates. The idea sounds simple enough, but watching it in action shows just how tough it can be.

In one video, a woman delicately makes her way over a massive pile of milk crates in heels. (She doesn’t fall over, but it looks pretty dicey.)

The Seattle Seahawk’s mascot Blitz also got in on the action, almost falling off on the very top of the milk crate pile.

In another, a team mascot decides it’s not for them and just demolishes the whole thing with a golf cart (smart moose).

Not everybody has success, though. One video shows a man painfully toppling over and hitting his lower back on a stack of crates as he tries to make his way over them:

Rapper Snoop Dogg has called the challenge the "bridge of death." And some medical experts are urging people not to try it at home.

"You can open up a textbook, and all injuries are on the table," Dr. Rajwinder Deu, a professor of orthopedic surgery at John Hopkins University, told USA Today. "Everything depends on your fall, what angle you fall and what part of your body hits the ground first.

Torn ligaments, fractured wrists and dislocated hips are only a few of the injuries that could be sustained from attempting the challenge, he adds.

Now, the Food and Drug Administration and even TikTok are urging people not to try this at home. “Waiting for FDA approval before I take the Milk Crate Challenge,” Conan O’Brien joked on Twitter earlier this week. The FDA’s response: “Although we regulate milk, we can't recommend you try that. Perhaps enjoy a nice glass of 2% and return all those crates to the grocery store?”

TikTok is threatening to remove these videos from its platform, calling the challenge “dangerous.”

“TikTok prohibits content that promotes or glorifies dangerous acts, and we remove videos and redirect searches to our Community Guidelines to discourage such content,” a TikTok publicist told Fast Company. “We encourage everyone to exercise caution in their behavior whether online or off.”

A current search on TikTok for #milkcratechallenge turns up no results, so hopefully, this is one dangerous trend that'll go away before it really takes off.

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