You know how every friend group has that one guy who just has to take things too far?
Meet James Ellingsworth, a Louisiana roofing sales manager who moonlights as a content creator with a stomach braver than most. His latest stunt is eating Surströmming, a Swedish infamous fermented herring, also known as “THE WORLD’S SMELLIEST FOOD.”
The video (currently sitting at over 9 million views) starts with James cracking open the can. Within seconds, he’s gagging like he just walked into some Indian public toilet.
“It smelled like if you poured liquid ass on a dead raccoon.”
Not exactly Michelin star feedback.
Still, the guy’s determined. James buttered up a brioche bun and tried to pass it off as some twisted lobster roll. One bite later, he was dry heaving like his body was trying to escape itself.
The smell lingered so badly that James said he needed three showers and multiple teeth-brushing sessions just to feel human again and get rid of the stench. He might have scrubbed with bleach, vinegar, and salt, too, but who knows.
But the thing is, the can he ate was likely rotten, swollen with gases like some villain’s origin story. So in a way, he didn’t eat Surströmming. He ate expired Surströmming’s evil twin.
Despite all this, James claims he’d still give Surströmming another shot (brave soul, I guess). Some men climb Everest. Others eat zombie fish. Humanity is freakin’ weird.
So…this is content?
I mean, people have been doing stupid stuff for entertainment since the Roman gladiators. But today, instead of lions, we’ve got influencers. Same circus, different performers.
This happens because human curiosity mixed with the internet’s thirst for “I can’t believe he did that” moments creates a perfect storm. Chasing views, the need to stand out, and the eternal chase for viral shock value turn bad decisions into content gold.
So, is James an idiot? Maybe. But he’s also a mirror of what people watch, laugh at, and share. He’s the symptom, not the disease.
I mean, look at the flies in the video…
THE WHY: ATTENTION
“Look, most of us want a normal life without any drama, but life in this world is always strange, and uncertain.
I don’t need your email. I don’t want to bug you with a billion notifications. All I ask is this, if you felt something here, if this made you think, laugh, or even shake your head in disbelief, just bookmark ‘Averagebeing.com’ and come back tomorrow.
That’s it. No strings. Just you, me, and this stupid world.”
