In what would have been a branding nightmare for the public relations department at Coca-Cola, an Australian TV host was almost killed by a bottle of Coke live on TV when a simple experiment went horribly wrong.
Science YouTuber Jacob Strickling appeared on the show Studio 10, and performed an easy experiment for the TV hosts. He mixed liquid nitrogen into Coca-Cola bottles, causing them to fire off into the sky.
Despite having safety goggles on and a full lab coat (which as any scientist knows, makes you invincible to all injuries), the experiment nearly ended in serious injury. After successfully launching a few bottles, the YouTube star asked the host to have a crack at it. It did not go well.
"You've just seen me do it twice," Strickling told host Natarsha Belling, offering her the bottle.
"So what do you do?" She asked, as he continued to pour.
"I put in the liquid nitrogen, and when I say invert it, that means turn it upside down. Then you turn it upside down."
"And then what do I do with it?" She asked, not exactly filling the audience with confidence. Nevertheless, Jacob persisted in the experiment.
"Just face it towards the sky, not towards the cameras."
"Upside down?" She again questioned.
"Upside down." He confirmed. "I've done it twice you should have been watching."
"I wasn't watching," she admitted.
A fraction of a second later, after he failed to give the instruction to turn it upside down, and she failed to turn it upside down, the bottle shot off, very nearly hitting her full-force in the head.
Then the cast and crew began screaming and laughing in equal measure.
To give an idea of how much force was in the bottle, when it collided with a nearby tree it snapped a branch off upon impact.
The crew and hosts don't appear to have been worried by the incident, and immediately laughed about it despite the incredibly near miss.
"I told you this was going to be the best live TV ever," Jacob joked.
"I can't hear out of my right ear," Natarsha told him, before joking "what were your insurance details?"
Jacob went on to explain that the experiment was perfectly safe, despite it looking anything but.
