Teen hospitalised with third-degree burns after attempting viral Squid Game Challenge

2 November 2021, 13:20

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Aiden, 14, tried to make Dalgona honeycomb cookies using a recipe he found on TikTok.

A teenager has been left with third-degree burns after attempting the Squid Game Challenge.

Squid Game hit Netflix in September and it's been a worldwide success. Over 111 million people have tuned in to watch the Korean Netflix drama, which saw contestants unknowingly take part in a set of deadly childhood games in an attempt to win a huge cash prize.

If you've watched Squid Game, then you'll remember the famous Dalgona cookies which featured in episode 3. In the episode, the players are given Dalgona engraved with four shapes – a triangle, a circle, a star and an umbrella – and in order to progress to the next level (and stay alive…) the players are challenged with cutting out the shape with a needle without breaking the Dalgona.

READ MORE: Squid Game sparks concern after children start playing the show's games at school

Well, the famous cookies quickly went viral on TikTok, with users attempting to make their own and perform the challenge themselves. But now, three teens in Sydney, Australia, have landed themselves in hospital while attempting to make the cookies.

According to Daily Mail, 14-year-old Aiden Higgie tried to make honeycomb using a recipe he found on TikTok. He made the batter by combining water, bicarbonate of soda and sugar in a non-microwaveable cup. After placing the mixture in the microwave it exploded and hit Aiden's legs and hand.

"It boiled up to a ridiculous temperature, and when he took the cup out it exploded in his hand," Aiden's mother Helen, who was in another room when the incident happened, told the Daily Telegraph. "It has burnt his hand, and because it was sugar and plastic melted together, it has run down his leg from his knee down to his shin and it stuck and kept on burning and burning and burning."

Aiden was admitted to Westmead's Children's hospital where it was discovered that he had suffered first degree burns to his hand. He also had deep burns and nerve damage on his leg. Doctors feared Aiden would need a skin graft because of the severity of his injuries and, although his wounds are healing, he will need to spend the next year in a pressure bandage.

Doctors have now warned teens to be extra careful when making the cookies themselves, or to be supervised by a parent. Acting Head of Westmead's Children's hospital's Burns Unit, Erik La Hei, said that there have been more and more cases of burns stemming from the challenge in Australia.

He told Daily Mail: "The honeycomb toffee mix is both hotter and stickier. If the mixture is spilt or handled while it's still hot, the greater heat and longer contact times causes deeper, more serious burns."

This comes after Squid Game caused concern among parents after children started imitating the series' games in the school playground. It was reported that children as young as nine were reportedly watching the show and UK schools had been forced to contact parents, after their children asked to play games at school that are depicted in Squid Game.

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