Another day, another social media challenge – and this one is no friend to the innocent bottle cap.
The new viral craze doing the rounds on social media is called the #BottlecapChallenge, and it's already attracted a host of A-list participants.
Whereas 2014's Ice Bucket Challenge raised awareness of the disease amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (known as ALS), this latest online stunt doesn't appear to have a cause at heart. It does, however, require a certain about of nous when it comes to martial arts.
The challenge calls for participants to knock the cap off a stationary bottle using a spinning kick, unscrewing the (usually loosened) lid from the vessel with the touch of a foot.
Usually filmed in slow motion, to up the cinematic ante, the challenge was apparently kickstarted (excuse the pun) a week ago by Taekwondo champion Farabi Davletchin.
It entered the mainstream after the athlete invited mixed martial artist and boxer Conor McGregor, Jackie Chan and action star Jason Statham to try their hand at the antic.
The challenge quickly spread like wildfire, with celebrities aplenty taking up the call to action.
Here are some of the best so far:
Singer John Mayer
Actor Jason Statham
Director Guy Ritchie
Singer Ellie Goulding
Suck it pic.twitter.com/aGriSl2VWz
— Ellie Goulding (@elliegoulding) July 2, 2019
DJ Diplo
Diplo also challenged Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and Barack Obama to put their own spin on the stunt though, perhaps unsurprisingly, there's no reverse roundhousing on the Sussex Royal Instagram just yet.
It's not just an activity for pro-athletes or celebrities, however, with many social users also sharing their own takes. Currently, there are more than 19,500 Instagram posts using the hashtag #BottlecapChallenge on Instagram alone.
The craze follows 2018's KiKi Challenge, also known as the In My Feelings challenge, which called on participants to dance to a song by Canadian rapper Drake while walking alongside a moving car.
The stunt was banned in Egypt, while Abu Dhabi Public Prosecution ordered the arrest of three social media influencers in the UAE for "endangering the lives of others" by performing the dance on the road in a dangerous manner.
_________________
Read more:
New online challenge can lead to three years in prison and fine in the UAE
Scrubbing up on social media: is the rise of 'cleanfluencers' healthy or harmful?
Selfies are five times more deadly than shark attacks, says study
_________________
