The Most Dangerous Things To Ever Happen On Stream

To outside observers, all a streamer seemingly has to do is record themselves applying makeup or screaming at the tops of their lungs while playing video games — and bam, instant profit. However, that is an oversimplification and doesn't take into account the hard work, stress, and occasional accidents that can happen when streaming live.

If you pay attention to the news, you probably lose faith in humanity on a daily basis because of all the dangerous stuff people do in flagrant disregard of common sense. Acts of human carelessness are a daily occurrence, and streamers are no exception; the only difference is they stream their acts for the world to see, and it can totally blow up in their faces — figuratively and (occasionally) literally.

Perhaps a streamer does something intentionally dangerous for views, or maybe they aren't thinking straight. Whatever the case, it's usually a matter of when, not if, and the internet has a video library's worth of recorded threats to life and limb caught live on stream. Here are some of the most dangerous examples.

WARNING: This article includes numerous instances of grievous bodily harm, including one instance in which a streamer died. Reader discretion is heavily advised.

Stream sniping is widely frowned upon by the competitive gaming community, since it's essentially the streaming equivalent of looking at your opponent's screen during an otherwise-friendly splitscreen match. But, some streamers will tell you that stream sniping is also a great way for random strangers to locate content creators in the real world. This knowledge is dangerous in the wrong hands.

Sushipotatoo is a livestreamer who records the streets of Japan one night at a time. She visits convenience stores, chats with passersby, and eats snacks. But, on February 24, 2021, her stream took a potentially dangerous turn. She was taking her daily nocturnal sabbatical when a complete stranger drove up and claimed he was a fan. He also demonstrated this by offering Sushipotatoo a birthday present — an expensive necklace from Tiffany — and letting her get in his car to open it.

Normally, here is where things get creepy, but Sushipotatoo lucked out, since the gift-giving stream sniper was just the beginning of a momentous night. Sushipotatoo hung out with him and drove around until dawn. They even shared the breakfast of champions together: sushi.

The stars must have aligned for Sushipotatoo, since she came across a total stranger who actually wanted to know her better and didn't want to hurt her. Despite Sushipotatoo's preternatural luck, it's generally a bad idea to accept presents from and jump into the cars of any random stranger who approaches you. That's a great way to get kidnapped.

Who doesn't want the deftness and dexterity to slice a flying piece of fruit clean in two? Games like "Fruit Ninja" make it look easy, but reality is rarely reflected in video games. When wielding a sword, you have to worry about its heft, length, and most importantly, sharpness. Swinging a sword improperly is, well, a double-edged sword that can easily come back to bite you in the behind — or, in Lance Stewart's case, the hand.

Stewart is a streamer who posts just about anything. He's made videos that feature everything from prank compilations to puppies. In 2016, he posted a video in which he dual-wielded swords and swatted fruit lobbed his way. This went about as horrifically as you expect.

Barely 10 seconds into the video, one of the swords caught on Stewart's right hand, and he started bleeding profusely. His friends and family called 911 and gave him a large towel to soak up the blood, and while they waited for the ambulance, Stewart momentarily passed out, possibly due to the shock. Thankfully, he was quickly revived, but the pain didn't subside until the EMTs arrived. Eventually, Stewart's hand was stitched up, but the damage was so serious that it took him a year to regain feeling in his pinkie.

Stewart begged his followers and fans to learn from his mistakes. Trying to recreate "Fruit Ninja" in real life is a bad idea, and Stewart quite literally has the scars to prove it.

Alcohol and bullets do not mix. It's always a bad idea to fire a gun while under the influence of alcohol — or while drunk on gamer rage. Firearm instructors always claim you should never point a gun at something unless you plan to shoot, after all.

One of the prime examples of dangerous and inebriated gun handling came to the streaming world from Carl "SoaR Carl" Reimer. Early in March 2020, he got drunk while streaming and cocked a handgun while daring viewers to say he didn't have money. He thought it was unloaded and therefore safe to pull the trigger — but it wasn't. The gun went off and demolished the G-Fuel container on his desk, as well as his career. Reimer was banned from Twitch and booted from his esports team (via Dexerto). Luckily, no one was hurt during the incident.

However, alcohol isn't the only cause of improper gun handling while streaming. In December 2020, Faze sWiisH (no affiliation with the actual FaZe Clan, apparently) experienced a humiliating death in "Call of Duty: Warzone," so he vented his frustration by opening a window and unloading an entire handgun clip worth of catharsis into the night. Luckily, according to Dexerto, the window faces an empty field, so nobody got hurt. But, it's still dangerously (and potentially fatally) irresponsible to fire a gun blindly — for any reason.

When you were a kid, your mother probably told you to never play with matches or anything that can start a fire. Apparently, some streamers never heeded that warning, as AnaPlaying accidentally lit her own hair on fire while absentmindedly playing with a lighter. Luckily, she quickly put out the burgeoning blaze. Ultimately, she got off easy, compared to the Japanese streamer Daasuke.

During a 2015 "Minecraft" stream, Daasuke decided to take a break and show off his lighter collection while he refilled one with lighter fluid. He apparently spilled some fluid on a lighter/matchbox combo, and even though he wiped it down, he still made a wrong move when he tried to light a match on it. That was where his stream literally went up in smoke.

After several failed attempts, the match caught fire, and so did the lighter. And the problem with fire is that most people can't keep a cool head after they start one by accident. Daasuke immediately dropped the lighter, tried to put it out, and gently placed the lit match on even more flammable material. At this point, he was facing fire on two fronts and couldn't keep up. Soon, his house was ablaze. Luckily, according to eTeknix, Daasuke and his family were able to escape the flames unscathed.

Given all the flammable material in Daasuke's room, it's a miracle the fire didn't spread quicker than it did. Things could have ended up a lot worse.

Many content creators livestream from the safety and privacy of their own homes, but others broadcast their daily public lives, and not every bystander likes getting caught on film. Most people would just turn away and avoid these IRL streams — but then again, most people don't pretend to be with the mob.

Paul "Ice Poseidon" Denino is a name many people should recognize. He started as a "Runescape" streamer and eventually graduated to streaming his daily life. Unfortunately, this direction placed him in the crosshairs of many controversies and dangerous situations. For instance, during one stream, Ice Poseidon sat down for a bite to eat when an irate man approached him and claimed to be the restaurant's owner. In a threatening tone, the man also claimed to be with the local mafia and that numerous people had complained about Ice Poseidon, telling him, "The sooner you leave, the better."

Ice Poseidon quickly vamoosed, because who would want to get on the mafia's bad side and risk their life? Well, it turns out the "owner's" bark was worse than his bite. Ice Poseidon eventually returned to the restaurant and had a friendly chat with its real owner. The guy who approached him was a delivery system assistant who wasn't even actively employed at the restaurant at the time of the confrontation.

If the faker lied about his status at the restaurant, it's likely that he exaggerated his "gangster" connections. Still, it's pretty scary when anyone threatens you with ties to organized crime, especially if it's for something as innocuous as livestreaming.

Never accept candy from strangers. That is Rule Number One of daily life, and most people wouldn't even consider it. But sometimes, the morbidly curious part of your brain wonders what would happen if you humored the person handing out candy. The answer is getting a front-row seat to a possible creep.

Andy Milonakis made a career in film and television with his childlike appearance. Despite looking prepubescent, he is over 40 years old and spends a lot of time streaming. During a nighttime IRL stream in 2017, Milonakis was approached by a stranger carrying a paper bag of junk. The man immediately set a weird tone by inviting Milonakis to a "tea party," tossing him a lollipop, and stating he had been in jail for the past week. Oh, and the stranger claimed he was released because he promised a cop a sandwich.

As the stream went on, the stranger's behavior got even more uncomfortable. He stated that he wanted Milonakis to come with him and repeatedly asked Milonakis to turn the camera off. Milonakis played along (without turning the camera off) and walked with the stranger, at least until he wandered into a store. Only then did Milnoakis make a hasty retreat.

While it's unknown if the stranger was an actual danger, most people wouldn't have stuck around to find out. Despite his age, Milonakis may have risked far too much documenting the man.

It's a common trope in comedies for champagne bottle corks to break fragile objects and blacken eyes, so most people open them with care. However, one streamer had the brilliant idea to turn a champagne bottle cork into a game of Russian roulette. He also accidentally reminded himself it was a bad idea by demonstrating it live on stream.

Since 2015, Kyle "Bitwit" Hansen has teamed up with Paul "Paul's Hardware" Heimlich to produce Awesome Hardware, a weekly video series about everything tech and PC (the two recently went their separate ways). While Hansen and Heimlich primarily created computer-themed vlogs, they also occasionally goofed around on set, which once almost cost Hansen an eye. 

In 2017, Hansen was brainstorming live about a "game" in which participants would take turns loosening a champagne bottle cork while pointing it at their eyes. The loser would be whoever caught an facefull of flying cork. Hansen discussed this idea while slowly loosening a bottle cork and looking at it (cue dramatic irony).

The bottle was barely an inch away from Hansen's face when it exploded and sent the cork screaming towards him. Luckily, Hansen was wearing glasses, so his eyes were protected from harm. The experience did, however, give him a nasty shock — and an unwanted champagne shampooing.

If it weren't for his glasses, Hansen probably wouldn't have been able to laugh off the experience, so let his mistake be a lesson: If you liken a competition to Russian roulette, it's probably bad for your health.

The kitchen can be a dangerous location. It's full of sharp, nasty tools that can slice you up and burn you to a crisp if you're not careful. Respect your kitchen utensils, and they won't harm you; treat them like toys, and you will probably end up with one of them sticking out of your leg.

You might not have heard of the streamer MangoSpears, at least not recently. He hasn't been active in a while, and if you search for him, you will mostly find, well, mango spears snacks. All videos have been removed from MangoSpears' ghost town of an account, but one of the few pieces of his remaining content features the aftermath of a poorly thought-out desire to play with kitchen skewers.

In the clip, MangoSpears has speared himself with a skewer. The kitchen instrument is sticking out of his leg and has clearly made a hole in his jeans. He is obviously in pain, but he isn't bleeding, so the damage luckily isn't too severe (probably). The clip ends with MangoSpears laughing through the pain and trying to yank the skewer out of his leg.

The moral of the story is: Kitchen skewers are supposed to skewer food the chef intends to cook, not the chef themself.

Distracted driving is dangerous driving. If you are paying attention to your phone, especially if you are using your phone to livestream, you could easily cause a fatal accident.

In July 2017, Nikol Barabasova was driving with her friend just outside of Obrnice, Czech Republic (via The Daily Telegraph). They were singing along to music and generally having a good time. Even though Barabasova's friend was livestreaming their fun, Barabasova was unfortunately preoccupied and continually took her hands off the steering wheel while traveling at high speeds.

Around 10 minutes into the stream, Barabasova and her friend hit a road barrier. The stream captured the crash and continued to broadcast for another horrible half hour. According to The Daily Mail, emergency services didn't arrive until 20 minutes after the incident. Barabasova's friend sustained multiple injuries. Tragically, Barabasova didn't survive.

Moreover, Barabasova isn't the only example of a driver who was livestreaming at the time of a wreck. In 2016, Onasi Olio-Rojas recorded himself driving at over 110 mph near Providence, Rhode Island (via NBC 10 WJAR). He weaved in and out of traffic until he finally lost control and rammed into a garbage truck and concrete barrier. However, despite the severity of the crash, Olio-Rojas survived in critical condition.

Streamers and YouTubers love to celebrate subscriber milestones. After all, a large fanbase is the hallmark of a successful content creator. But as with any celebration, one wrong move can result in a potentially serious injury.

You probably remember James "PhantomL0rd" Varga for the infamous "Counter Strike: Global Offensive" gambling scandal. Varga was accused of failure to disclose the fact that he owned skin-betting website CSGO Shuffle while promoting the site, rigging it in his favor. His Twitch channel has long-since been shuttered (leading to an eventual lawsuit), but before all that, he was a growing streamer. To celebrate a milestone, he hosted a giveaway — the original video of which has been deleted. Luckily, YouTube channels such as Shaz Shazz have saved it. As the subs grew, phantoml0rd whipped out a confetti cannon in preparation and twisted it to pop the tube. Just one problem: He held it the wrong way around.

Instead of confetti showering over phantoml0rd's chair, the cannon's top exploded into the side of his kneecap at an angle. You can hear the pain in his voice, as well as see it as he rolled on the ground. Luckily, he made a full recovery. Whether or not you believe in phantoml0rd's innocence, it's hard to not sympathize with him during that clip, especially with the sheer amount of agony on display.

You've probably either watched or are aware of the train scene from the movie "Stand by Me," in which children are almost run over by a train while on a bridge. You might assume that real children would never do such a thing, but some streamers have almost been run over by trains in tunnels.

The internet contains a disturbing number of videos featuring people recording treks into train tunnels, only to narrowly avoid being hit. One example belongs to YouTuber Takashima, who likes to explore abandoned buildings. In one video, he ventured into a train tunnel and was smart about it. He constantly stopped to feel the tracks for any vibrations, as well as listen for the telltale chugging of an oncoming train. Well, one came barreling along, and he only had a few seconds to find safety. Luckily, he ducked into a nearby alcove, which protected him.

A more harrowing encounter with a train has resurfaced in a 2018 video by Nuke's Top 5. While the channel usually only features collections of potential hauntings, one clip features a group of children led by a boy (identified as YouTuber Teegan Papke) who venture into a train tunnel. The tunnel was darker and longer than expected, and the more the boys walked, the more they panicked, especially when a train started charging at them. Like Takashima, the boys hugged the wall, but they didn't find a protective alcove. While Papke and co. managed to escape unscathed, the train passed far too close for comfort.

Let these two filmed events serve as a warning: Never go wandering into train tunnels.

Allergic reactions can strike at any time, any place. Ideally, it's "best" to experience an attack in a restaurant full of people, since other patrons who could help are literally within arm's reach. Conversely, one of the worst times and places to experience an allergic reaction is while livestreaming, as many livestream rooms are both secluded and soundproof. In those case, if it weren't for the audience, nobody would ever know a streamer was breaking out in hives because of something they ate.

Kooncoon was a Korean streamer who posted videos of games such as "Archeage," as well as the occasional IRL clips. During one stream, he ate some food that didn't agree with him. He suddenly started itching uncontrollably, flushed a deep red, and moaned. He was in obvious agony and tried to stand up, but didn't even have the strength for that. Kooncoon collapsed on the floor as viewers begged him to drink water and call an ambulance. Unfortunately, he looked unconscious. According to some viewers, KoonCoon recovered after 20 minutes, only to take another bite of the food that probably caused the allergic reaction. 

Miraculously, Kooncoon made a full recovery. He previously crashed his car live on-stream, and he later disappeared from the internet in 2021. Kooncoon's Twitch channel was removed due to Terms of Service violations, and many clips featuring him were deleted. Still, given the severity of his reaction, Kooncoon is lucky to be alive.

Random attacks are always horrifying. One second, a person is going about their business; the next, someone is trying to seriously harm them. Even when they survive, the attack can leave lasting damage. Just ask Raydempto.

Also known as Outdoor IRL, Raydempto likes to broadcast his daily adventures in Amsterdam. During a February 2022 stream, Raydempto claimed that the city is pretty safe and he felt fine living there because "there's police stations everywhere." Unfortunately, that didn't stop a visibly intoxicated stranger from approaching Raydempto, putting a hand on his shoulder, and claiming he would kill him.

At first, Raydempto went along with the man — assuming it was a joke — but his good mood quickly turned to panic when the stranger attempted to strangle him. Raydempto begged for the man to let go, but he didn't. Raydempto quickly lost consciousness, and the stream cut to black. 

Thankfully, Raydempto filed a police report, and the stranger was arrested several days later. While Raydempto initially seemed to recover quickly (via Dexerto), his health eventually took a nosedive. He visited a local doctor and found out that he had a concussion, possibly due to the attack. His condition and the fate of his attacker (i.e., if he will be charged for attempted murder) are an ongoing story, but with any luck, Raydempto can put this chapter of his life behind him.

Some streamers enjoy making fools of themselves and annoying strangers for views. And most of these kinds of content creators are usually smart enough to limit their shenanigans to immoral pranks and won't do anything outright illegal — the operative word being "usually."

Malik Sanchez, also known as Smooth Sanchez, is a self-described "incel" who loves to annoy strangers on the street. He commonly targets women, harassing them and driving them away with nasty comments, but those pale in comparison to his most dangerous stunts: threatening to blow people up. On more than one occasion (as seen in clips collected by penguinz0), Sanchez filmed himself approaching random strangers and, in an offensively stereotypical and thick Middle Eastern accent, claiming he had a bomb and would kill everyone around him "for Allah." Given Sanchez's actions, it's a miracle nobody knocked him out or tried to perform a citizen's arrest, even if he was only full of it.

In 2021, Sanchez was arrested for one of his hoax bomb threats (via Justice.gov). A few months later, he pled guilty. He was officially sentenced on February 8, 2022, and while the results have not been disclosed, the maximum sentence for a fake bomb threat of this caliber is five years in prison.

Pepper spray is a fairly effective deterrent that helps people protect themselves. But what happens when the sprayer is the guilty party? 

Anthime Joseph Gionet, otherwise known as Baked Alaska, is a streamer who has accrued a ton of infamy. He started as an internet prankster and Buzzfeed commentator, but he eventually devolved into a vocal white supremacist. Many of his livestreams, which feature an AI that reads viewer comments aloud, consist of him being confrontational (and getting arrested), but a particularly dangerous incident did not go that way.

In one stream, Baked Alaska stopped at a gas station and convenience store, and the night seemed like it would be nice and calm until his phone started spamming a racial slur at one viewer's request. That's when everything fell apart. Baked Alaska claimed the situation was out of his control because viewers were at fault, but he also refused to apologize or diffuse the situation, so tempers flared. Eventually, everyone around him had enough — especially after the phone started another round of offensive spam — and attacked him. Baked Alaska whipped out his pepper spray to deter one stranger and barely escaped to his vehicle. While Baked Alaska got out scot-free, he wasn't so lucky several months later, when he argued with a bouncer who shoved him in response. Baked Alaska maced the man and was later arrested and sentenced to 30 days jail time (per The Daily Beast).

Baked Alaska would later participate in the January 6 Capitol riot and was subsequently arrested again.

It's no secret that streamers, especially gaming streamers, need beefy computers. They need rigs that can simultaneously render a game, record footage of them playing, and maintain a stable connection to audience comments without blue screening under the strain. As such, streamer PCs cost a pretty penny and are usually customized out the wazoo. No streamer wants to potentially destroy their rig while troubleshooting problems — or almost kill themselves in the process.

Back in 2016, Ice Poseidon was having some problems with a freshly-purchased $5,000 PC. He experienced a "power surge," and his computer refused to turn on afterwards. He talked to fellow streamer Destiny, who suggested resetting the computer's BIOS by pressing the "Clear CMOS" button. Instead, Ice Poseidon stuck a rivet directly into the computer while it was plugged in.

When Ice Poseidon jammed the small rod into his PC, sparks flew out, and he yelped in either surprise or pain. According to Destiny, he shorted something in the computer and is lucky to be alive, since he forced large amounts of electricity to go where it wasn't meant supposed to, including his hand. Basically, you should never try to DIY computer repair when power is running through it, especially with an electrically-conductive tool.

No matter where you go in the world, you will always find at least one person who thinks they can push you around. You'd be surprised how many streamers who film their daily lives catch these types in the act.

Sushipotato is a fairly popular streamer who broadcasts from Japan. Most of her clips are fairly harmless as she walks around town, visits various hotspots, and eats bananas, but one stream was particularly harrowing for her. The night started normally until a host club host asked her for translation advice. The interaction was fairly friendly, but then a stranger told the host to bar her from entry because "she's a foreigner." 

However, Sushipotato is a card-carrying, native-born Japanese citizen (she's half-Japanese and half-Irish, hence her username), so she confronted the stranger and displayed proof of citizenship. He apologized and went on his way. That seemed to be the end of their interaction. If only it were.

After the initial confrontation, Sushipotato got a bite to eat, walked back to the area where the uncomfortable meeting took place, and sat down. That's when the stranger approached her again, only this time he decided that he owned the street corner. He told her to move, but she refused since she wasn't in his way. He then started dragging Sushipotato into the street, which rightfully terrified her. But what's most dangerous of all is that as Sushipotato recorded the assault, she also caught multiple people on camera who saw her and did nothing.

According to Game Rant, Sushipotato ultimately decided not to report the incident to the police.

"Pokemon GO" has been through many growing pains. Not only did the game suffer server issues at launch, but early adopters paid more attention to the game than their surroundings, which resulted in a ton of accidents and unintended cases of trespassing. Criminals also apparently thought they had carte blanche to rob "Pokemon GO" players whenever they congregated, and one lucky/not-so-lucky victim recorded it.

Rickey Yaneza was one of the many Poke-Fans who jumped on the "Pokemon Go" streaming train. He was already an established blogger when he started streaming the game, but nine days into his Pokemon livestreaming stint, he went out in the dead of night to catch a Snorlax at the Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn. He never made it to the spawn point. Instead, Yaneza was violently sucker-punched in the side of the head and mugged live on stream. The crook stole all of Yaneza's phones, unaware that his face was being broadcast to Yaneza's followers.

Afterwards, Yaneza reported the incident to the police and visited a hospital because the mugger messed up his jaw. The story went viral and was even broadcast on large outlets such as ABC News. To add salt to that wound, though, Yaneza's Twitch channel was temporarily suspended for violating the platform's Terms of Service (via Kotaku).

Thankfully, Yaneza and his Twitch channel have made a full recovery, and "Pokemon GO" is safer than ever before.

A home is supposed to be a safe haven from the elements and criminals. Few experiences are quite as much of a kick in the gut as burglars breaking into your house or apartment. While streamers aren't immune to these crimes, they can at least make these criminals unwittingly broadcast their transgressions to millions.

One 2014 streaming session of "DOTA 2" started normally for Nikki "Sajedene" Elise, but partway into a match, she heard a knock at the door. Her roommate left to investigate, and several minutes later, yelling was heard from another room. Sajedene abandoned her game to check on the commotion just before someone told her to drop to the ground. Seconds later, an unidentified man with a gun barged into her room. The next 10-15 minutes consisted of disturbing silence, punctuated by the intruders occasionally yelling and actively looting Sajedene's room live on camera. 

When Sajedene later recounted the event, she added a few more details, which painted the robbery as more harrowing than viewers even knew. The robbers had kicked her door in and invaded her home because they thought she had drugs, but when they didn't find any, they just started stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. The kicker? The robbers were apparently looking for someone else and put Sajedene's life in danger by accident.

In a bit of good news, Sajedene's fans and "DOTA 2" community members from around the world alerted the police (per Kotaku), and one of the robbers was eventually arrested.