Florida teens arrested after dangerous TikTok Orbeez Challenge goes wrong
TikTok, OrbeezTwo Florida teenagers have been arrested after a failed attempt of the Orbeez TikTok Challenge went wrong and injured a woman’s eye.
TikTok has had a handful of trends go viral that have bled over into real life in dangerous ways, like the Devious Lick challenge.
Now, another trend has become popular on the video app called the Orbeez Challenge, which has users shooting water gel pellets at random strangers. Police issued a warning about the challenge back in March 2022 and said the Orbeez challenge, “poses danger to the public.”
Even after the warning, a pair of teenagers in Florida have been arrested after their attempt at the challenge went awry.
Flickr: Paul GorbouldOrbeez Challenge lands Florida teenagers in jail
On May 9, Joashua Sanchez and Jacob Canaynay were arrested in Clearwater, Florida after their attempt at the Orbeez Challenge injured a woman in the eye with a gel pellet.
Clearwater Police Department said this was not the first time they received a call about an Orbeez Challenge gone wrong.
The victim of the prank was Jamie Pessina, who claimed to almost lose vision in her eye and said, “I don’t understand what this world is coming to.”
“I don’t understand what this world it coming to..” says a woman shot in the eye by a gel-pellet. @myclearwaterPD says the case mirrors the dangerous social media- “Orbeez Challenge” … more tonight at 5/6p
— Josh Cascio Fox13 (@joshcascio) May 9, 2022
The pair of 18-year-olds each face one count of simple/aggravated battery.
Despite the negative reputation of the viral trend, the company is still advertising the Orbeez Challenge on its official website.
TikTok has seemingly wiped all mention of the Orbeez Challenge from the app as searches for the phrase come up empty.
SpinMaster, the manufacturer of Orbeez, has said that the pellets are “not intended to be used as projectiles or inserted in mechanisms.”