‘Neknomination’ drinking game takes the UK by storm

A new social craze, known as ‘Neknomination’, has recently taken the UK by storm.

Many social network news feeds have been bombarded with numerous videos of young people taking part in the controversial game.

The online drinking game starts with someone nominating a friend to down a pint of alcohol. Once this is done, they pass onthe nomination on to another friend, who posts a video of their nomination online.

The nominee must adhere to a time limit of 24 hours and must choose between drinking a concoction of something vile or drinking in an unusual or humorous circumstance.

The Neknomination game is making regular appearances on news feeds everywhere, starting in Australia and now embedding itself into the drinking culture of British universities.

The craze is becoming increasingly competitive in out-doing what has already been seen or done. This has signalled health risks associated with the activity; People have been known to perform the drinking game using raw eggs, chilli sauce, marmite, washing up liquid, moisturiser, and urine – often added to large quantity of spirits for good measure.

As Neknomination is spreading rapidly, issues of peer pressure are also becoming apparent. According to some, the game is concerned with forcing others into drinking dangerous pints or doing something impetuous which they would not usually do.

There has been at least one death linked to the craze, which has triggered concern and has encouraged calls to ban the online phenomenon.

Commenting on this, Ryan Wilkinson, a second-year Philosophy student, said: “One of the people died because they jumped into a river – that’s obviously a bad idea.”

“It is just harmless fun, and don’t watch them if you don’t like them.”