Bizarre "self-discipline challenges" spark online debate
"21 days of solitude, 40 thousand in the bag. Say goodbye to mediocrity!"
"Pay off your debts in 10 days – 200,000 awaits if you survive the hotel stay!"
These are the kind of promises floating around Chinese short video platforms under the banner of "Self-Discipline Challenges" or "Solitude Challenges."
The setup? Contestants check into a hotel room under 24/7 surveillance and isolate themselves for seven to 40 days. If they make it, they claim a prize ranging from 200,000 to 800,000 yuan (US$27,591 to US$110,367).
A video on social media promotes the "self-discipline challenge" with an award of 500,000 yuan.
Publicly, organizers call it a "positive energy" project. "True freedom lies in finding peace through discipline," they proclaim.
Privately, in chat groups and WeChat moments, it's all about cash - stacks of 100-yuan bills and big transfer screenshots. No tricks, they say. "You can bring a lawyer to sign the contract!"
Meals are provided. Rules are simple - just stay in the room, follow the rules, and walk away rich.
Sounds too good to be true? Many think so. Still, some pay thousands - sometimes more than 10,000 yuan - to sign up, believing it could change their lives.
Take Mr Zhang from Shaanxi Province. Last September, he stumbled into a livestream promising big rewards for simply staying put. After chatting with the host, he paid 6,900 yuan (US$951.9) to join a 26-day challenge.
One of the many self-discipline challenge offices.
But less than 24 hours in, he was disqualified for "covering his face for over seconds seconds."
He tried again the next day, paying another 6,900 yuan. This time, fixing his bed while turning away from the camera got him kicked out.
Still determined, he switched to a 10-day challenge and paid a third time. But he failed again - this time for blocking part of the room while stretching.
In total, Zhang lost 20,400 yuan without earning a dime. When he told his relatives, they said bluntly: "You've been scammed."
The contract of such challenges contain a series of rules saying what the participants are not allowed to do during the challenge.
With their help, he filed complaints with local police and consumer regulators. But since a contract had been signed, he was advised to take it to court.
On February 19, Zhang sued the "Self-Discipline Challenge Studio" in Harbin, arguing the contract was unfair.
He claimed the challenge imposed strict conditions on participants but barely any on the organizers. In his view, the contract should be invalid.
In court, the company defended itself, calling the challenge a public welfare initiative meant to help people "overcome bad habits."
Such challenges are still rampant in social media.
This is the usual excuse used by challenge organizers across cities like Nanchang, Shenzhen, Nanjing, and Shijiazhuang.
They advertise it as a self-improvement program to help people beat addictions - smoking, drinking, gambling, internet overuse, poor lifestyle habits, and so on.
But the idea isn't exactly homegrown. Overseas creators - like YouTube megastar Mr. Beast - have tested similar isolation challenges.
In December 2023, Mr Beast locked himself in a windowless, device-free room for seven days. He ended up talking to himself, smashing furniture, and mentally unraveling.
A thumbnail of Mr Beast's solitary confinement challenge video in 2023.
Many Chinese participants have seen such breakdowns online. But the cash prize proves too tempting.
So how many people actually win?
Organizers say their challenges have "tons of success stories" and post screenshots of prize transfers as proof.
Prize money of 400,000 yuan shown to a challenger who joined such a game in Sanya in December, 2024.
"It's a challenge. There will be winners and losers," one staffer told reporters. "If you're not disciplined, don't sign up."
But the reasons for failure are often ridiculous. One participant lost for rubbing his eyes. Another for showing a bit of skin while stretching, which was against the organizer's disqualification rule of showing naked skin.
In one case, a man in Guizhou paid 6,000 yuan for a 30-day challenge but was disqualified on day three when his pillow blocked his face while he slept.
The contracts are filled with sneaky clauses. "Face must not be covered for more than 3 seconds" sounds reasonable - until you realize it means your face must always be in full view.
Even turning around to fix the bed could be seen as a violation.
What counts as "nakedness"? How much skin is too much? What exactly defines "bedtime" or "wake-up"? These vague rules give organizers full control over who wins and who doesn't.
As one netizen put it: "You're eyeing their prize money, but they're eyeing your entry fee."
Back in 2023, a self-discipline challenge studio in Chengdu was shut down by local market regulators. A nearby resident surnamed Li recalled seeing crowds of curious young people at the site: "Most were teenagers, lots of kids around 17 or 18."
Beijing-based lawyer Wang Hui says these are classic "adhesion contracts" where one side sets all the terms.
If those terms are unfair or too one-sided, the contract could be ruled invalid.
Wang adds that challenges based on discipline should consider actions made while awake and aware.
Getting disqualified for something done while asleep, like rolling over, crosses the line.
More importantly, if no one is actually winning, and the rules are designed to guarantee failure, it may point to something worse than a scam: fraud.
