About
The Cinnamon Challenge is a popular dare game in which a person attempts to swallow a tablespoon of cinnamon without vomiting or inhaling the powder. Thousands of videos with people attempting the challenge have been uploaded on YouTube -- few succeed.
Origin
According to Channel 4’s Rude Tube show, in 2006 a Scandinavian YouTuber posted a video of himself in an attempt to swallow a teaspoon of cinnamon. His attempt failed, and he spat out the cinnamon into a bucket.
While the challenge became a viral phenomenon on YouTube, its origin precedes the history of the video-sharing community. Based on Google search results, the earliest known mention of “Cinnamon Challenge” can be found in a blog entry by Jason Kottke dating back to December 22, 2001.1
Spread on YouTube
Thousands of videos followed with people attempting the Cinnamon Challenge -- some highlights:
More can be found below in the videos section.
Spread outside YouTube
Questions about what the cinnamon challenge is, or if it is possible to beat it, are quite common on Yahoo Answers.2 Wikipedia has a “cinnamon challenge” section in the cinnamon article.3 There are several Facebook fan pages, and the most popular of which has over 1,600 “likes”.4 It is a promotional page for CinnamonChallenge.com.5 The Urban Dictionary, has a definition entry for the Cinnamon Challenge created on May 21st, 2008.6
Search
Search queries peaking in October 2007, which may correspond with the YouTube video that has accumulated the most views as of April 2011 (over 1 million). It was uploaded on November 20th, 2007.
External Links
1 Kottke – Cinnamon Challenge 2001 / 12/22/2001
2 Yahoo Answers – * Is it possible to beat the Cinnamon Challenge?, What is the cinnamon challenge?, Cinnamon Challenge?
3 Wikipedia – Cinnamon: The Cinnamon Challenge
4 Facebook – The Cinnamon Challenge
6 Urban Dictionary – Cinnamon challenge / 5/21/2008