Popular YouTuber and streamer iShowSpeed, whose real name is Darren Jason Watkins, had to be treated by paramedics after an experiment during a livestream went wrong.
The 18-year-old, who is known to be quite the animated character while playing video games, decided to go live on 3 October to show fans the “elephant toothpaste” experiment.
The experiment which was conducted in his bedroom, soon took a turn for the worse as the substance ended up releasing toxic fumes into the air.
In a state of panic in the video, Speed said: “It didn’t work!" He added, "What is going on? Is it working? Oh my f****** God, it’s not doing it! ... Ah, I can’t breathe."
Both the streamer and cameraman left the room for several minutes and a fire alarm could also be heard going off in the background.
After a disastrous experiment, one of his stream moderators updated fans in the live chat to let them know Speed was doing okay.
They wrote: “Speed is currently with the firefight[ers] they’re giving him oxygen so he can breathe he should be fine guys.”
His cameraman, Slipz, also shared a clip of the moment from another angle on X/Twitter and said: "Speed is okay."
The streamer has not yet directly addressed the incident himself.
iShowSpeed’s experiement goes wrong during a live stream— (@livespeedy7451/iShowSpeed sceenshot )
Fans rushed to send their well wishes to the star.
One fan wrote: “We all wish ishowspeed a good luck fighting breathing problems, just pray for them and everything will be ok inchallah.”
Another fan said: “Pray for speed, but like, he be doing too much sometimes for content.”
Speed is known for his charismatic and high-energy videos. The content creator who is originally from Cincinnati, Ohio, now has over 20m Youtube subscribers as well as over 22m followers on TikTok.
In July, Speed was rushed to hospital during his travels in Japan after suffering from a sinus infection which became quite severe.
After his release from the hospital at the time, Speed explained in his first stream back home on 15 August that the illness “got super, super bad.”
He continued: “And the sinus infection was causing cluster headaches … I pray none of y’all in the chat experience a cluster headache. It feels like somebody has a knife with your eye and are stabbing it from the back of your eye.”
What is the Elephant toothpaste experiment?
This experiment can be extremely dangerous.
It is a scientific process that requires hydrogen peroxide, dry yeast, and dish soap to create a foamy substance.
When these chemicals are combined together, they react and cause the release of oxygen gas, and when this gas gets mixed with soap, it can create a large, foamy reaction.
Thought Co says on its website the “original elephant toothpaste reaction, which uses a much higher concentration of hydrogen peroxide, can cause both chemical burns and thermal burns.”
This experiment is not safe for children and should only ever be performed by adults using proper safety gear.
“Usually, the demo is performed less to discuss the chemistry and more to raise interest in chemistry. It is one of the easiest and most dramatic chemistry demonstrations available,” Thought Co adds.
