College Student IS NOT In A Coma After Attempting To Drink 2 Gallons of Semen In 'Swallow Challenge'

Fact Check

  • by: Alan Duke

This is a fake story on a known hoax website and it began trending on Facebook and other social media Wednesday, May 4, 2016. For the record, a college student in Phoenix, Arizona, is not in a medically-induced coma after drinking two gallons of some in a "shallow challenge."

The photo of the dorm room used in the story was taken from an Arizona State University student's Pinterest account. It also included what is apparently a stock photo of a woman drinking lemonade. "Swallow challenge" is a real thing, but usually involving water. The story was first published by another fake news site in January and republished in May.

The fake story says:

Susan Yoshikomitsu, 19, of Phoenix is in a medically induced coma after doctors found 2 gallons of semen in her stomach. Reportedly, the young woman was attempting the new "Swallow Challenge" which originated in Japan.

According to reports, Yoshikomitsu read about the "Swallow Challenge" on a popular Japanese blog earlier this week. Yoshikomitsu, 19 is a sophomore at Arizona State University originally from Tempe. She found out more about the challenge after a friend had posted a Vine video showing clips of other girls attempting the challenge. According to Yoshikomitsu's room mate, Karla Kurosawa, "Susan is always competitive and would never turn down a challenge."

Sharing the hoax story only promotes the out-of-control cycle of fake news that has infected social media. Share this one instead to help your friends break their addiction to fake news.


  Alan Duke

Editor-in-Chief Alan Duke co-founded Lead Stories after ending a 26-year career with CNN, where he mainly covered entertainment, current affairs and politics. Duke closely covered domestic terrorism cases for CNN, including the Oklahoma City federal building bombing, the UNABOMBER and search for Southeast bomber Eric Robert Rudolph. CNN moved Duke to Los Angeles in 2009 to cover the entertainment beat. Duke also co-hosted a daily podcast with former HLN host Nancy Grace, "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace" and hosted the podcast series "Stan Lee's World: His Real Life Battle with Heroes & Villains." You'll also see Duke in many news documentaries, including on the Reelz channel, CNN and HLN.

Read more about or contact Alan Duke

About Us

International Fact-Checking Organization Meta Third-Party Fact Checker

Lead Stories is a fact checking website that is always looking for the latest false, misleading, deceptive or inaccurate stories, videos or images going viral on the internet.
Spotted something? Let us know!.

Lead Stories is a:


@leadstories

Subscribe to our newsletter

* indicates required

Please select all the ways you would like to hear from Lead Stories LLC:

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. For information about our privacy practices, please visit our website.

We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By clicking below to subscribe, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing. Learn more about Mailchimp's privacy practices here.

Most Read

Most Recent

Share your opinion