What is TikTok’s deadly ‘boat jumping challenge?’

Before I explain this to you, understand this; there is absolutely, positively nothing unusual about wanting to feel seen, about wanting to feel as though you’re a part of something, or about any emotions adjacent to that of belonging in general. There are few things more human than being subject to these desires, and no one should feel any shame in harboring them.

With that said, nobody is going to notice you for participating in a TikTok challenge, and those aforementioned desires will ultimately be left unfulfilled if you partake in them; whether you’re slapping each other with tortillas or overdosing on Benadryl, these parasocial shells of kinship, cheeky and harmless as some of them are, are useless at best and, as you’ll find out in a moment, fatal at worst.

What is the ‘boat jumping’ TikTok challenge?

The latest TikTok challenge, known as the ‘boat jumping challenge,’ is exactly what it sounds like; participants jump off the back of a speedboat while it’s in motion, and try to land feet-first in the water.

In the last six months, at least four lives have been claimed as a result of this challenge; the momentum of a speedboat coupled with hitting the water in an unlucky way is a quickfire way to break one’s neck, and unfortunately, four too many people have found this out the hard and tragic way.

I’ll say it again; the desire for community and connection are nigh unavoidable parts of the human experience, but I promise you that risking your life for even a small drop of internet fame isn’t worth it. That’s a moot point for many of you, I’m sure, but sometimes the truth is trite for a reason.