The daredevils feeding a very dangerous Russian craze (Don’t Try This Yourself)

[uk666 5,298]

The daredevils feeding a very dangerous Russian craze (Don’t Try This Yourself)

 

 

A number of young Russians are making names for themselves by posting videos of life-threatening stunts online.

 

What drives these extreme selfie daredevils?

 

He has a camera strapped to his head and he teeters on the edge of the roof in a nine-storey apartment block in Siberia.

 

"Are you filming?" he asks, as a friend hands him a flaming torch. Orange flames engulf his legs and suddenly he jumps,

 

somersaulting in the air like a stricken warplane before landing with a thud into a deep pile of snow.

 

Remarkably, he is unhurt - if a little winded. Police tell a gaggle of onlookers to stop filming, but within hours, footage of this potentially deadly jump goes viral - various videos of the stunt filmed from different angles were watched millions of times on YouTube.

 

Many people were incredulous, even angry. "Is this the stupidest stunt ever?" screamed one headline.

 

The young man's appetite for risk is unusual but not unique. In fact, a growing number of deaths and injuries, suffered by Russians who among other things have fallen from buildings and moving trains whilst taking pictures, have prompted the Russian Interior Ministry to launch a "safe selfie" campaign.

 

The Russian Ministry's safe selfie campaign urges people to, for instance, avoid train tracks and roofs, and be cautious around staircases, wild animals, and guns

 

Despite the deadly peril, some of the risk takers are attracted by fame and the possibility of becoming social media stars.

 

In many places in Russia, tall buildings are accessible and fines for trespassing are low, if they exist at all. And one enthusiastic participant says extreme stunts can alleviate the boredom and pent up energy of many Russian men.

 

Alexander Chernikov

 

ALEXANDER CHERNIKOV/YOUTUBE

 

Alexander Chernikov lit his trousers on fire before jumping into a snowbank. Video of the dangerous stunt went viral online

 

 

The man jumping off of that Siberian apartment block, 23-year-old Alexander Chernikov, lives on the outskirts of Barnaul - 4,000km east of Moscow.

 

Even though it's -18C and thick ice cakes the pavements, he is dressed in a shiny burgundy bomber jacket, jeans and cowboy boots. The place where he made his infamous jump is a dreary, Soviet-era building with rusty balconies covered in satellite dishes.

 

"Up there you feel that you're standing on the line between life and death - your life is hanging by a thread - that if something goes wrong you may die," he says.

 

Alexander claims he is not afraid of death. "What's the point of being scared? It is inescapable. It comes to us all," he says.

But would he go to such lengths if there were no cameras? "Probably not," he admits. "I would find a different way to get on in life."

 

Alexander sometimes gets temporary work as a labourer on building sites - there are also local jobs in factories or unloading cargo trains. But he dreams of a career as a stunt man or even a film star. He is desperate to get out of the sleepy village where he still lives with his parents.

 

Soon after Alexander's notorious jump, which has been viewed more than 10 million times online, he was invited onto a TV show in Moscow where a film director promised him a screen test. But on the show, he and his family were treated like country bumpkins.

 

"What if he jumps again and gets injured?" asked the show's host. "I don't want him being treated in hospital on my taxes - I don't want to pay for this idiot!"

 

He is still waiting for the screen test.

 

Angela Nikolau

 

IANGELA NIKOLAU

 

The daughter of a trapeze artist from Moscow's best known circus, Angela has more than 400,000 followers on her Instagram account. Travel firms, fashion brands and camera companies sponsor her dangerous adventures in Russia and beyond.

 

Like Alexander Chernikov, the 24-year-old art student was invited onto a TV show to talk about her stunts. But unlike him, she was applauded and received a bouquet of pink roses from the presenter.

 

In one of her most extreme videos, Angela and her boyfriend climb what is said to be the world's tallest crane in Tianjin, China.

 

She also climbs high buildings to perform eye-popping feats like a yoga backbend on a narrow ledge, or a ballerina's arabesque on a turret. Sometimes she is pictured smiling casually under a selfie-stick with the ground hundreds of metres below her.

 

Don’t Try This Yourself

 

[Tech 425 3,942]

Well not me, I'm scared of heights       

[jimmydee 19]

Well this only proves that some people are not afraid of dying and at some point if they live then they will realize that you should be afraid of dying.