Chinese livestreamer dies after downing too much alcohol as forfeit

A livestreamer in China lost drinking battles against other streamers and then apparently lost his life after drinking yet more alcohol as a forfeit.

The livestreamer based in Jiangsu surnamed Wang, but more popularly known by his online moniker Brother Three Thousand, was found dead in his apartment on May 16, a friend said to Chinese media.

He was last seen online in one of his videos the previous night, chugging four bottles of the potent baijiu, a colourless Chinese clear grain liquor with an alcohol content that ranges from 35 to 60 per cent.

In his final stream on the video-sharing platform Douyin, the 34-year-old can be seen pouring out some baijiu onto a table and lighting it on fire, seemingly to show its authenticity, before chugging the rest of the bottle. He did the same for another three bottles in quick succession, reportedly as a forfeit after losing drinking battles to other streamers, who competed on the speed and quantity of drinking.

Wang’s viewers said he drank at least seven bottles of a popular baijiu that night.

One of Wang’s friends – a man known as Mr Zhao, who was seen in his past videos feasting and drinking with Wang – told Chinese media the livestreamer’s lifeless body was found around 1pm, around 12 hours after the final streamed video. Mr Zhao suspected his friend had also been drinking before he started the streaming.

Wang was cremated on Saturday, Chinese media reported. In a video Mr Zhao shared to mourn Wang, he wished “there would be no (livestream) challenges and baijiu in heaven”.

Wang had multiple accounts on the video-sharing platform shut down, likely for reasons related to his online boozing. Douyin bans content creators from drinking during their livestreams. But Wang would create new accounts – his latest account had around 44,000 followers.

In a previous video, Wang can be heard promising to consume a large amount of baijiu once donations from viewers reached the target he set.

Wang’s death, apparently as a result of his binge-drinking livestreams, once again turns the spotlight on how some livestreamers perform dangerous stunts in efforts to earn more monetary “gifts” from their viewers.

In 2021, a Chinese influencer died after being egged on by her viewers to drink pesticide in a livestream.

ALSO READ: 'Drink pesticide, hurry': Chinese influencer, 25, dies after viewers egg her on in livestream

This article was first published in The New Paper. Permission required for reproduction.