What are the Darwin Awards?

There are some honors in life one simply doesn't want. Have you ever heard of the Darwin Awards? Well, if you haven't, let us tell you it is the one award you definitely don't want to be given!

The Darwin Awards are a satirical tribute that is "awarded" to individuals who, through their own remarkably foolish actions, have inadvertently eliminated themselves from the gene pool.

These posthumous honours highlight the often bizarre and inexplicable deaths resulting from poor decision-making and a lack of common sense.

While we must approach these accounts with sensitivity and respect for the lives lost, the Darwin Awards serve as a reminder of the importance of personal safety and critical thinking.

The list of Darwin Award winners is long. Click on to read about five of the most preventable and unbelievable deaths that have earned these individuals a place in the annals of the Darwin Awards.

Note: out of respect for the families of these individuals we have chosen not to use their names.

This is one of the most recent Darwin Awards winners, which really makes us scratch our heads in disbelief. According to DarwinAwards.com, in 2022, a Russian soldier's  decision to steal an abandoned Macbook ended up costing him dearly.

After spotting the laptop and not wanting to get into trouble with his commanding officer, the soldier quickly decided to replace a ballistic plate in his chest armour with the Macbook.

Replacing a ballistic plate designed to save his life while in the middle of a WAR proved to be a very poor choice.

Unfortunately for this soldier, he would pay for the errors of his ways with his life. When the soldier was killed in Irpin, the Ukrainian soldiers who found his body discovered the Russian soldier's deadly mistake.

In November 2018, a young man died an unusual death in the Andaman Islands, India. The man, according to his own Instagram account, claimed he was a world explorer inspired by Jesus hoped to make contact with the protected and isolated Sentinelese tribe.

The Sentinelese tribe is the most isolated tribe on earth and they inhabit the Andaman Islands, which are forbidden to outsiders.

The BBC in Delhi reported that the young man, who hailed from Vancouver, Canada, bribed some fishermen to get him close enough to the island that he could access it via kayak.

This missionary, per the news outlet, planned to give the Sentinelese tribe a soccer ball, some scissors and to share about Jesus. According to various news outlets, the youngster wrote to his family that he was determined to visit the Sentinelese because "The eternal life of this tribe is at hand."

After paddling to the island, the tribe immediately attacked him with arrows, but the man kept walking. According to AFP, the fishermen who dropped the missionary off then saw how the tribe members began "tying a rope around his neck and dragging his body" along the shore.

Photo: By Unknown author - www.oldindianphotos.in/2011_10_10_archive.html, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=39717651

The young man's body was never recovered, as the Sentinelese have had a strict no-visitors policy ever since the British occupated of the 1880s almost caused the tribe to become extinct.

According to the website Mpora.com, in 1997, a 22-year-old man received the Darwin Award for attempting to DIY his own bungee jumping experience.

According to a statement from law enforcement in Reston, Virginia, the young man decided to try to do bungee jumping on his own off of a 70-foot high bridge.

The man tied several bungee cords together and carefully measured the length of the line to ensure it was just under 70 feet.

However, there is a reason these high-risk activities must be left for the professionals to design because the 22-year-old forgot to take into account that bungee cords STRETCH. Tragically, the man confidently jumped off the bridge and crashed head first into the ground.

Some daredevils don't know when to stop or when a stunt is beyond their realm of expertise. In 1995, a Californian man famous for his stunts decided to take things to the next level and attempt to before a never-done-before trick at Niagara Falls.

The 39-year-old man wanted to ride his jetski off of Niagara Falls and then parachute to safety. The daredevil added a rocket booster to his jet ski, and the plan was to hit the booster just before he went over the edge of the massive waterfall and deploy his parachute.

Unfortunately, as reported by the Associated Press, despite planning the stunt for seven years, this man forgot to consider an important factor when he was planning his stunt....that water-soaked rocket boosters do not usually ignite.

The 39-year-old rode his jetski over Niagara Falls, and not only did the boosters not work, but his parachute failed to open, and he fell 180 feet to his demise.

According to the Darwin Awards webpage, in 1997, one man's need to prove his "manliness" led to his unfortunate demise.

It all started when a man from Pittston, Pennsylvania, decided to pick up his friend's pet cobra, despite it being a highly poisonous snake.

Naturally, the cobra bit the man and when his friends urged him to go to the hospital, the injured man reportedly told them, "I don't need to go to the hospital. I'm a man. I can handle it."

This "manly man" then went to the local pub with his buddies instead and threw back a few brewskies while boasting proudly about his cobra bite story.

Unfortunately, his ignorance was his undoing. As Wikipedia points out, Cobra venom is slow-acting, and it takes a few hours to hit and attack the central nervous system. About an hour after hitting the bar, the man died when the effect of the venom finally hit him.