A Chinese man turned up at the emergency room of a Zhejiang hospital with the screw base of a light bulb sticking out of his mouth, after trying one of the dumbest online challenges imaginable.

On July 25th, firefighters at the Yuyao City Fire and Rescue Brigade, in Zhejiang, China, were confronted with one of the most bizarre rescue cases yet. A local man, referred to only as Mr. Chen, burst into their station and tried to explain something to them. However, the man’s mouth was covered with a t-shirt, and instead of words, he only seemed able to utter muffled sounds. After removing the makeshift mask, the reason for his unusual speech became obvious – he had an LED light bulb sticking out of his mouth and was trying to get help removing it. Unfortunately, that proved too difficult a task for the firemen.

After inspecting the man’s mouth and assessing the situation, the firemen decided that trying to yank out the glass light bulb was too difficult, as it could cause serious damage to the man’s mouth if the glass burst. So they took Mr. Chen to the nearby Yuyao People’s Hospital, where a team of doctors realized that the man could not open his mouth wide enough to safely remove the light bulb. So instead, they used a special mouth opener to dislocate his jaw on one side and remove the glass bulb.

After blowing a sigh of relief, Chen told doctors that he had gotten the light bulb stuck in his mouth about two hours earlier. He had attempted to remove it himself, but couldn’t open his mouth enough for the glass bulb to safely bypass his teeth. He had trouble swallowing and speaking, so he decided to seek professional help.

 

As for the reason why he got the light bulb in his mouth in the first place, the middle-aged man casually said that he watched someone do it in an online video and wanted to see if he could do it too. I guess he got his answer…