‘Shell On’ Trend Becomes Teens’ Newest Tide Pod Challenge Successor

A new challenge among teenagers is going viral, rivaling last year’s Tide pod epidemic in stupidity.

The Arizona Republic reports the “shell on” challenge to be the latest craze among Snapchat users. Kids simply dare their friends to eat food, but the catch is the packaging (or shell) has to stay on while they munch it. The word “shell” is used very loesely, as apple cores, banana peels, plastic wrappers, and cardboard have all been devoured by the wildly bored teens.

The Republic also interviewed high school sophomore Liam Hamm, who posted a video on his account. His participation came in the form of chomping carrots wrapped in plastic with the caption, “yall eat ur lunch with or without the shell.” Although he doesn’t know where the challenge originated, he is still enthralled by the idea of it. “It just looks funny because it’s not really a shell, but people are calling things shells,” he said. “I guess that is what’s funny about it.” To him, it’s simply a less dangerous version of the Tide pod challenge.

But there still are risks to this activity. A physician told the New York Post that, while eating orange peels and organic material of the like might not be much of a threat, “Eating plastic, on the other hand, can be dangerous. BPA has been suggested to influence hormones. Chemicals in PVC like vinyl chloride have been linked to cancers.”

If this continues, somebody should probably get Rob Gronkowski on the phone, as he had no problems assisting Tide in a campaign to warn people of the dangers of consuming their detergent.