Manama: A Saudi young man won three mobile phones after he won a challenge from his friends to eat a live beetle.
A video clip showed the young men sitting inside a tent as they dared one of them to accept the cruel challenge.
The young man held the live beetle, and after some moments of hesitation, he went ahead and chewed it as required by the shocked friends. A young man could be heard cheering on the beetle-eater and encouraging him to keep on eating and not to give up.
The challenge winner drank a glass of water after he ate the live insect.
Social media users criticised the challenge and heaped scorn on the young man who accepted to eat the beetle, accusing him of improper conduct and telling him to return the mobiles to their owners.
“Shame on you! How could you accept such a low challenge and eat a live insect? Has greed and love for mobiles reached such a shameful level? It is unfortunate that some people would do anything in the name of fake heroism,” Mohammad Al Shehri posted.
Murad said that he loved bravery and boldness in general, but he could not accept the man’s behaviour.
“I know that someone is challenged and comes under heavy peer pressure would do crazy things,” he said. “However, in this case, the challenge bordered on humiliation and should not have been accepted.”
Abu Bassam said he doubted the young men were genuine friends.
“Dignity is priceless and a true friend does not accept to humiliate his friends,” he said.
One female commenter seized the occasion to respond to the controversial statement last week by a preacher who said that women on shopping trips had only one quarter of a brain and could not there be trusted to drive cars.
“They get upset when we say that some men have such limited brains that they cannot think sensibly,” Visitor posted. “This video shows how some of the men who claim they have full brains behave. And then, they accuse women of limited cognitive capabilities.”
Those who defended the challenge argued that they felt it was a normal situation and said several restaurants across the world offered live insects on their menus.
