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Sinead Butler
Aug 07, 2025
Instagram/mariana_vasiuc
A new viral trend puts people's balancing skills to the ultimate test, and resulted in one influencer breaking her spine in her attempt.
Inspired by Nick Minaj, this viral challenge involves people balancing on small objects while wearing stiletto heels to the rapper's song "High School" - and it's much harder than it looks.
As one particular example illustrates, it's also incredibly dangerous and shouldn't be attempted.
Russian influencer Mariana Vasiuc can vouch for this as she took to Instagram to share how her failed attempt led to a visit to the doctor.
In the video, she can be seen in stilettos on a saucepan and a tub of baby formula on top of the kitchen counter, and after letting go of a person's hand nearby to try and balance herself, she ended up wobbling and ultimately fell backwards off the counter.
“I decided to start blogging, and here I am leaving the doctor diagnosed with Th9 compression bending uncomplicated fracture of the body," she explained in the post, just weeks after giving birth.
"The irony? Karma? Or just life, which always tests our strength at the most unexpected moment.”
In a follow-up post, the influencer noted that her initial tumble went viral and gave viewers an update on how she's doing.
"Because of one video, which was unsuccessfully filmed, I woke up a popular person. More than 50 people sent me my reel from different publications today..." she wrote.
"People, thank you for your popularity, for your concerns and for your comments. I’m doing great, following the guidelines and now living in 'star' status."
Elsewhere, What's the ‘performative male’ everyone is talking about on TikTok? and 'I love summer... but I have an itch' trend already has everyone excited for Halloween.
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