The Cinnamon Challenge

The Cinnamon Challenge

Team Member: Camilla Bryne

The Cinnamon Challenge is a popular dares game, and a form of competitive eating. The game involves trying to swallow a tablespoon of pure, ground cinnamon without inhaling or vomiting the powder. You are not allowed to drink anything, and you have to finish the challenge within 60 seconds. Afterwards you upload the video online. The challenge is very difficult and dangerous, and can even be life-threatening. Swallowing the cinnamon usually results in coughing, gagging or vomiting, and it can also cause serious damage to the lungs. 

The stunt has its origin in 2001, when the first challenge took place. The first video of the challenge, titled “Pipe Attempts the Cinnamon Challenge”, was uploaded at YouTube April 2^nd 2006.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMDceZM8KRs

After this first video was uploaded several different videos was posted in 2006, and it increased in popularity in 2007. A lot of people had posted videos of themselves attempting the Cinnamon Challenge by 2010. However, the challenge first became really popular in 2011 due to a video Anna Diaz recorded of herself attempting to do the stunt. During the two first months the video received 3.9 million views. It was also covered by a lot of Internet culture blogs and imitated by other YouTubers. Today the video has over 9.3 million views.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdM_u5y5m5A

The Cinnamon Challenge is still actively going on today, though it has drop rapidly since its peak in 2011. 

The reason why this Internet meme has become so popular is probably because people want to prove that they can do this crazy challenge, and their adventurous mind sets them up to it. It also might have spread due to people’s curiosity, because they want to figure out how difficult it actually is. The Cinnamon Challenge has resulted in other memes that has been influenced and emerged from this dares game. For instance we can find a lot of images of people’s faces and their hilarious reactions immediately after they have swallowed a spoon of cinnamon.