It was only natural that streamers would go to increasingly extreme lengths to capture people's attention online, and one has managed to make an 'insane' amount of money from a brief-yet-effective challenge before being banned.
It's safe to say that Twitch doesn't welcome content that veers into torture, and despite the seeming popularity of streams like this on the platform, the site is quick to hand out bans prohibiting these so-called challenges.
There's certainly good reason for this too, as the death of popular Kick creator Raphaël Graven following an extended torture stream is a more than adequate warning against even the tamest versions of these challenges.
That doesn't stop some streamers from trying their luck, however, with many putting themselves through humiliating and often dangerous acts so long as they get paid for it.
Advert
As reported by Dexerto, the latest of these viral torture streams was conducted by ERBY, who deliberately trapped himself in a dog cage with his stay extending every time someone forks up $10.
It appears as if the stream was motivated by financial hardship, with the streamer turning to unorthodox means to avoid getting evicted from their home at the end of the month, and while it might seem extreme it appears to have worked.
He was banned by Twitch three days into the marathon stream after it gained attention, yet he appears to have earned $1,540 in the process — although some might estimate that figure to not be worth it considering what he had to go through.
The ban was only brief, with Twitch indicating that he breached rules involving "soliciting money, services, or items of value for self-destructive behavior," and he was back online just one day later — although all clips and recordings of the stream in question have been removed.
Twitch likely won't be quite as forgiving if he tries anything similar however, and while it might have been a financial success the first time around, it probably won't have the chance to achieve similar results upon a return.
Challenges triggered by donations involved various actions that ERBY had to carry out alongside an extension of the time he was forced to spend inside the cage, with monetary rewards ranging from $1 all the way up to $100 for the top 'reward'.
Donating just $3 would force the streamer to turn the lights out for three minutes, whereas $10 would mean that he'd have to eat a drop of Carolina Reaper chilli sauce.
Additionally, he would be completely drenched in water after someone donated $20, and forced into a 'dog position' within the cage for $25.
Thankfully the top donation trigger was a reprieve, as sending $100 would allow ERBY to exit the cage for a period of 30 minutes, although it's unclear whether this was ever triggered across the three-day period.