# 1000 ways to die...Is this show for real? (Somewhat gruesome) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 17, 2009, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593 "2009-12-17T03:56:38Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![dapper\_dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6bbea6/32.png) [@dapper\_dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dapper_dog)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2012, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/61 "2012-03-20T02:41:47Z")
[quote=“dapper\_dog, post:60, topic:521593”] Some of these shows I know happened. A airline stewardess was sucked out an airplane about 20 years ago, I think it was Hawaiian Airlines. A couple years ago a child was in an MRi and unfortunately there was an oxygen tank left in the room and it was pulled into the MRI at great speed and killed the child. Recently in Oregon a man was skinning a dead animal and contracted rabies. Another one was a child who was sucked into a hot tubs motor and drowned the parents could not pull her out because of the suction. Also in Sierra Vista Az a man picked up a baby rattlesnake to show his children, he was bitten and died. Don’t forget William Holden, he was drunk and died from hitting his head on an end table and bled to death. ---
**Author:** ![Buzzmeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Buzzmeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buzzmeister)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2012, 5:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/62 "2012-03-27T17:15:09Z")
I’ve watched quite a few episodes and I agree it is BS. The producers pick and choose actual incidences and expand them illogically and contrary to science. The wrap each of the 1000 ways with a “doctor” giving a cause of death which is supposed to make it all sound legitimate. If you watch enough “Mythbusters”, you can see many of these myths don’t stand up to testing. There is a syndicated news column called, “News of the Weird” that closely resembles some of what the show produces. But, like all shows like this, you can only report so many actual occurrences before having to be more creative. I’d guess the early shows were more likely to be true while later programs more fantasy than fact. And, I have tired to google the some reports and they simply aren’t in the press. Besides, it half these things did occur, you’d have heard it from Jay Leno first. All in all, its just entertainment. Like Ben Franklin said, don’t believe anything you hear and only half of what you see. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/63 "2012-03-28T11:51:52Z")
AIUI, the show’s vignettes really are based on real deaths or on situations that are hypothetically possible, even if unlikely, that are based on real incidents. (Spoilered for the squeamish.) Breast implants rupture all the time, for example. Whether they have ruptured and killed someone is a different story but given the right set of circumstances, however unlikely, it may be possible for implants to kill. Then the production company takes these ideas and turns them into something that will appeal to Spike’s demographic. Enough gets changed that you can’t trace the original story easily. Besides, Spike knows that if you show enough T&A, most people won’t care whether the stories are 100% true or not. ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/64 "2012-03-28T13:20:11Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Saw one last night. Two friends, one always bumming cigarettes from the other. Guy is fed up so he puts some cigarettes in a shotgun shell (removed the pellets) and fired at his friend. The cigarettes penetrated the guy’s skull and killed him. > > I’ve seen photos following hurricanes and tornadoes, where wind power propels things through wood and steel, etc. But does a shotgun generate enough force to put a cigarette through bone? I don’t know about bone, but the [Mythbusters](http://mythbustersresults.com/episode84) showed that used cigarette butts _can_ be lethal if fired at point-blank range. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/65 "2012-03-28T15:23:10Z")
> [@Antigen](#): > > I don’t know about bone, but the [Mythbusters](http://mythbustersresults.com/episode84) showed that used cigarette butts _can_ be lethal if fired at point-blank range. Cool! Sorta. Something else about this show is that everyone who dies is a jerk. We never see something bad happening to a nice person. ---
**Author:** ![Skara\_Brae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@Skara\_Brae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skara_Brae)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2012, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/66 "2012-03-28T16:03:49Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Cool! Sorta. > > Something else about this show is that everyone who dies is a jerk. We never see something bad happening to a nice person. I guess they have to portray it like that in order to make it entertaining…It would be a huge bummer to see an innocent kid get killed. ---
**Author:** ![elbravoiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@elbravoiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbravoiv)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2012, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/67 "2012-04-07T00:58:06Z")
yeah this is really pathetic, this show just demonstrates how dumb people have become and what thye like to be entertained by ---
**Author:** ![Killswitch\_Stunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c2a13f/32.png) [@Killswitch\_Stunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Killswitch_Stunner)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2012, 8:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/68 "2012-04-09T08:24:15Z")
I like this show but haven’t checked out the new season, which I think already started this year. Might check it on the reruns though. ---
**Author:** ![Tmk33399](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/9d8465/32.png) [@Tmk33399](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tmk33399)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2012, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/69 "2012-05-01T23:04:05Z")
All the people in these stories are a$$holes so that alone makes me think it’s fake. I’ve lived long enough to know a$$holes don’t usually get what they deserve. Based on this I seriously doubt that these stories are 100% factual. I’m pretty positive they embellish. ---
**Author:** ![handsomeharry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e9c0ed/32.png) [@handsomeharry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handsomeharry)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/70 "2012-05-11T18:07:53Z")
> [@AuntiePam](#): > > Cool! Sorta. > > Something else about this show is that everyone who dies is a jerk. We never see something bad happening to a nice person. I love this part of it! They had one about some girl who was just going out to a party…They made her out to be the Whore of Babylon, going out to entice some poor young pilgrim, and corrupt him, and make him vile before she degraded him and took his money, and leaving him in a drunkard’s grave. I actually thought, “Well, if you are an evil woman, like her, you get what you deserve.” Then, I realized, she was just some girl wanting to go out to a party! ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [May 11, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/71 "2012-05-11T18:17:31Z")
> [@Tmk33399](#): > > All the people in these stories are a$$holes so that alone makes me think it’s fake. I’ve lived long enough to know a$$holes don’t usually get what they deserve. Based on this I seriously doubt that these stories are 100% factual. I’m pretty positive they embellish. Yeah, they always make into a morality play. No nice person is ever killed, just jerks and criminals. The show is pretty entertaining, though. ---
**Author:** ![riafomh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@riafomh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riafomh)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/72 "2013-07-31T19:42:14Z")
> [@BuickGNX1987](#): > > I saw this one too…They put some implants into a pressurized chamber and simulated atmospheric pressure at 35,000 ft (outside of the plane) and couldn’t get them to do much of anything. They even injected air into them and still nothing. They also used a regular balloon filled with air and some inflatable things for a bra. Still nothing on the implants. The balloon and inflatable thingies expanded some but didn’t blow. Needless to say, air pressure in the plane may be lower than normal, but nowhere near the air pressure at 35,000 ft outside of the plane (which would eventually kill a person obviously). > > Even though the disclaimer says the deaths are real, I’m calling bullshit on this. Maybe some of the stuff is real, but I’m now willing to bet a lot of it is just urban legend. Nonetheless, it is good for a cheap thrill and some laughs. 😛 Realize of course that while the show depicted this as though her boobs ‘exploded’ in a bloody mess that seemingly killed her instantly, it’s quite possible that the actual ‘real’ death could have been something much more… sedate in nature - probably a slow bleed that took hours on a long flight which no one really noticed until too late, with someone who like so many people probably just went to sleep on the plane b/c she wouldn’t be feeling very good anyway, etc… So maybe it was just ‘bad surgery’, and / or maybe the M/E noted that the pressure issue MAY have been a contributing factor, and that’s all they needed to go on to put it in the show. (with much embellishment) ---
**Author:** ![riafomh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eada6e/32.png) [@riafomh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/riafomh)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/73 "2013-07-31T19:50:33Z")
Cigarettes from a shotgun? That WOULD kill you for sure. In the acting business, when they’re using blanks (even without wadding), it’s entirely possible to kill someone at point blank range. They’re extremely cautious about this - they film at certain angles and have actor’s point off to the side of someone’s head, etc. ---
**Author:** ![EmilyG](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/emilyg/32/364_2.png) [@EmilyG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmilyG)\ **Post date:** [July 31, 2013, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593/74 "2013-07-31T22:13:55Z")
I wonder by which method this thread died the first time, and by which method it died the second time, before its second resurrection. _ducks_ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/1000-ways-to-die-is-this-show-for-real-somewhat-gruesome/521593.md?page=3)