Neknominate is not a just a reckless social drinking game anymore, it’s also a dangerous one. A young man from Ashburton, New Zealand was hospitalised after downing a bottle of absinthe when he took part in the trending chain-mail game.

The game’s latest victim was apparently told that sculling a whole bottle of absinthe, which has as much as 90 per cent of alcohol, was akin to “suicide,” but still continued with his plan. He was taken to Ashburton Hospital on Monday night in a dangerously drunken state, and has had his stomach pumped.

The video of the man appeared on social media also on Monday, but the administrator of the Ashburton Neknomination Facebook page refused to post it.

“We warned the guy when he put it to us he wanted to do a bottle of absinthe, we told him no it’s pretty much suicide because of how potent it is and that it would not be getting posted on our page as we don’t condone behavjour like that or videos that go too far,” the administrator who refused to be named told the Guardian.

But the man continued with his quest, and that had nearly killed him.

He was still fortunate, though. Two men in Ireland met their fatal end after participating in the #Neknominate game.

Johny Byrne, 19, was found dead in a river in Co Carlow. According to The Mirror, he jumped into the river as part of the nomination process of the game.

22-year-old Ross Cummins from Dublin was declared dead in a hospital after he was found unconscious in his home. His Facebook page had a video that featured him participating in the trend.

The hashtag trend, which sees a participant sculling a whole bottle of liquor in creative and extreme ways before “neknominating” two of their friends to outdo their performance, started in the UK earlier in January 2013. It became a craze in Australia one year later, and has now reached New Zealand.

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