In December 2017, a 22-year-old British YouTuber named Jay Swingler stuck his head inside a microwave and had his friends pour seven bags of quick-setting Polyfilla around it.
The paste hardened faster than expected, crushing his only breathing tube and leaving him unable to breathe.
His friends spent 90 minutes trying to free him with a spoon, a knife, and an electric drill before finally calling 999.
Five firefighters from the West Midlands Fire Service then spent another hour carefully chiselling him out with a screwdriver — a delicate operation given how close the tool was to his head.
The fire service said they were “seriously unimpressed,” noting the rescue could have prevented them from responding to a genuine emergency. Swingler was not charged the £650 call-out fee because his life was in danger.
He survived, said he had never appreciated life so much, and the incident was later dramatised in the Fox TV series 9-1-1. The video got over a million views in 24 hours.
