TwitchCon took place in San Diego over the weekend: The company Lenovo Legion hosted mock battles between streamers there. They set up a pit covered with a layer of foam cubes. The Twitch streamer Adriana Chechik (30) jumped into the pit on Sunday, October 9th, and suffered serious injuries. She blames the organizers.
What was the idea behind this pit?
- Lenovo Legion set up a pit at TwitchCon in San Diego with two elevated platforms. The pit was covered with a layer of foam cubes.
- The idea was that two streamers would stand on the platforms and hit each other with foam bats until one of them fell off the small platform to “softly” land on the cubes: It’s called “Gladiators Game” – older readers might remember the concept from “American Gladiators (1989-1996)”.
- xQc and HasanAbi fought under the cheers of the audience (via twitter): The two have had an issue since xQc dared to rank HasanAbi in a tier list under “also included”.
xQc vs Hasan matchup was crazy! https://t.co/hDCvA5MRbM pic.twitter.com/9pZI7JiyJX
— Sean ✈️ TwitchCon SD (@EverywhereSean) October 9, 2022
Severely injured while celebrating jump into the pit
It went terribly wrong: The Twitch streamer Adriana Chechik had just won her match against the streamer EdyBot. She cheered, jumped up, and into the cubes.
When she landed, her pained expression was already visible, which she tried to cover with a smile. When asked if she was okay, she briefly nodded but quickly realized that something was very wrong.
She says: “I can’t get up,” hiding her face in the foam cubes. A medic is called. The commentators speak reassuringly, although they apparently cannot know how the woman is really doing: “She’s fine” – “Medic! She’s fine.”
What happened there? It turned out later that Adriana Chechik broke her back at two different places during the jump.
The streamer says: An off-duty medic recognized the severity of her injury, instructed her to stay calm, and reassured her. Later that same day, the streamer had to undergo surgery (via twitter).
This is the very painful clip:
Who is the streamer? Adriana Chechik (30) has been on Twitch since August 2019: Last year, she mainly played Elden Ring, Sekiro, and Fortnite, spending most of her time in Just Chatting. When she streams, an average of 2,800 people watch her.
Adriana Chechik has a background as an actress in the porn industry.
Streamers had to sign a liability waiver
What is the discussion now? The “pit” from Lenovo Logic was already critically discussed beforehand and is now viewed even more critically. As reported by PCGamer, streamers participating in the mock battles had to sign a liability waiver beforehand.
Even before the incident, streamers were injured in connection with the event: A streamer injured her knee when she got off the platform (via twitter). She says she can never trust Twitch again at such an event.
Others have also reported issues with back pain.
After the incident with Adriana Chechik, the pit was closed. From the organizer, it’s said (via kotaku):
We are aware of the incidents at TwitchCon where visitors of our gladiator game in the foam pit at the Lenovo stand were injured. The area has been closed for further use while we work with the organizers to look more closely at the incidents.
Qualified comment from a doctor on the matter:
“They said: Jump in, butt first”
What are the streamer’s allegations? Adriana Chechik says Lenovo Legion told people they could jump in. They even said to jump in butt first (via twitter).
The pit was also opened on the second day after people were injured so badly on the first day that they had to leave TwitchCon in a cast.
She was also upset that the commentators were mean to her and told her to just run away from the pain.
This person is no longer well-liked at TwitchCon:
How deep was the pit? As reported by Buzzfeed News, they were actually at the pit on Sunday when it was closed. The site writes (via buzzfeed news):
The foam felt a bit mushy but was still quite firm. BuzzFeed News estimates that the pit was less than 61 centimeters deep at one point. A type of mat seemed to lie under the foam, covering the concrete floor of the convention center.
According to Buzzfeed, the standard for such a foam pit is usually a depth between 1.20 meters and 2.40 meters.
Normally, one would assume that streaming is a job with a low risk of injury – unless you do something like celebrity boxing:
