Popular streamer and YouTuber IShowSpeed, known for wild challenges and high-energy streams, has taken the internet by storm with another extreme event: a race against a cheetah in South Africa! The 20-year-old Darren Watkins Jr., whose real name is Speed, shared a video of the event on X, where it quickly went viral, earning over 48 million views in just a few hours. The clip shows him shirtless, in black shorts, preparing to sprint across desert terrain with a cheetah as his rival.
The race took place at a cheetah reserve in South Africa, where Speed is staying during his tour of Africa. The roughly 30-second recording shows the streamer lining up at the start next to a cheetah enclosure. After a countdown of “3, 2, 1,” the two take off. Speed runs at full power, but the cheetah, the fastest land animal in the world, capable of speeds over 100 km/h, quickly overtakes him. However, the streamer keeps up a surprisingly good pace, losing by just a “foot,” as fans noted. At the start, the cheetah can be seen lightly scratching Speed’s leg.
IShowSpeed, with over 20 million subscribers on YouTube and Twitch, is famous for crazy stunts, from jumping into a pool of crocodiles to challenges with Ronaldo. This race is another hit that is climbing the algorithms and sparking debate about the limits of content. Was the cheetah trained, and was the challenge safe? The reserve’s organizers assure it was, but ecologists warn against stressing animals for entertainment. Speed has already announced more adventures in Africa.
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