Social media star dies after binge

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Popular livestreamer Zhong Yuan Huang Ge has died after binging copious amounts of potent local liquor on camera.

The 27-year-old Chinese man's wife confirmed his death in a statement to local media outlet Jimu News, Asia's Straits Times reported.

Huang's death marks the second influencer to die from a viral drinking challenge in under a month.

The fatality occurred June 2 after the internet celeb — known as Brother Huang to his 176,000 social media followers — had reportedly downed an excessive amount of baijiu.

Colloquially called "Chinese firewater," the typically-sorghum-based spirit boasts an alcohol content ranging between 35% to 60%.

In videos posted to Huang's since-deleted account, the cloutseeker could be seen swilling the grog, lighting tissue soaked in alcohol and showing off pyramids of empty bottles.

His wife, surnamed Li, said that Huang had been trying to earn cash to pay off a massive debt totaling hundreds of thousands of yuan that he incurred before his marriage.

According to a video of Huang's room posted by his relative, the wall in his room had Chinese phrases including "money is more important than life" and "life is not all about money, but you will need money to live the life you want," the Straits Times reported.

Huang had just built a new house in the village this year and the couple had planned to earn money to renovate it after sending their son to kindergarten this year, said Li, who shares a child with the deceased influencer and pledged to work the rest of her life to cover the deficit.

Huang's death comes less than a month after a fellow influencer, surnamed Wang, was found dead on May 17 hours after livestreaming himself knocking back four bottles of baijiu for his fans on Douyin, China's version of TikTok.

"When his family found him, he was already gone," a man identified only as "Mr. Zhao" told Shangyou News. "He didn't even get a chance for emergency treatment."

The daredevil, better known as Brother Three Thousand, had reportedly been involved in a "PK" challenge, in which two influencers typically compete for gifts or rewards from their audience.

The loser faces a penalty, which, in Wang's case, involved imbibing excessive amounts of hooch as punishment for losing three rounds, as seen in the now-deleted video.

Coincidentally, Huang was a good friend of Wang and even attended his funeral, during which he was overheard vowing to consume less alcohol, according to Southern Metropolis Daily.

Douyin prohibits drinking during livestreams, and Wang had already been suspended from the app for previous incidents of on-camera boozing.

The influencer's death has since prompted calls for increased regulations of livestreaming apps.

On this side of the pond, the China-owned platform TikTok — which is currently facing bans over potential national security threats — has come under fire for allowing similarly dangerous challenges to proliferate.

Earlier this year, a teen died after participating in the "Benadryl challenge," while in 2022, a group of Indonesian teens jumped in front of moving vehicles as part of a harebrained stunt called the "angel of death."