How a Quibi clip tricked TikTok into thinking a teen was dying

A terrifying clip is going viral on TikTok which shows a teenager with blood on his face, lying in the snow and asking for help, and viewers seem to think it’s real.

Concerned TikTok users can be safe in the knowledge that the clip is not actually real and is from a show from the now non-existent short-video app Quibi. The person in the clip is actor Tye Sheridan, and he is well and thankfully alive. Some may even recognize him as Wade Watts in Ready Player One and Cyclops in X-Men: Dark Pheonix.

Quibi was a mobile-focused streaming app launched in April. But its shelf-life was incredibly short after it was forced to shut down in October. Interest completely bombed, with one report claiming that the app lost over 90 percent of its subscribers after the first three-month trial.

However, it seems that Quibi’s ghost lives on and a clip from the show “Wireless” has turned up on some people’s For You pages, making it seem as though a teenager called Andrew Braddocks is in genuine trouble.

The film follows the main character Andrew who is driving through a snowy landscape to a New Year’s Eve party when he is distracted by his phone and drives off a mountain. As his phone battery slowly dies he tries to use it to seek help, but no one will pick up the phone.

Despite being posted by an account called @Ineedhelp428 on October 8, the clip has just recently gained traction, as can happen on TikTok depending on when it turns up on the For You page. Those who were tricked can probably be forgiven for not recognizing the footage considering Quibi’s demise.

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In the clip, the character Andrew Braddock can be seen lying down in the snow, pale, with blood on his face and saying “My name is Andrew Braddock. Please give this video to my mother, Elaine Braddock. Mom, if you’re watching this right now, it means I never made it out of here.”

In the comments, some people expressed concern that he would be posting this type of thing to TikTok rather than seeking help in another way. One person sarcastically wrote: “Call 911? Or post a TikTok, hmmm which one is better?” Another person said, “I’m on someone about to die TikTok.” Another person added, “Ayo, it’s been like 2 months…he’s still alive.”

At the time of writing the video has 6.3 million views and the account, which has no profile picture and no bio, has somehow gained more than 82,000 followers.