A dangerous TikTok trend has left a 7-year-old Missouri girl fighting for her life after a popular squishy toy exploded in her face.
In October 2024, young Scarlett Selby of Festus mimicked a viral challenge she’d seen online—freezing a NeeDoh cube and then microwaving it to make it softer and stretchier. But the innocent experiment quickly turned into a nightmare.
The moment Scarlett opened the microwave door, the toy erupted, blasting scalding red goo onto her face and chest. Her father, Josh Selby, 44, heard a blood-curdling scream and raced to the kitchen, horrified to find his daughter badly burned.
Josh desperately tried to remove the searing substance from her skin and clothes. Fearing the burns near her mouth might swell and block her airway, he tore off her shirt and rushed her to the hospital, where doctors placed her in a medically induced coma.
A Missouri family is speaking out after a viral TikTok trend left their 7-year-old daughter in a coma with second- and third-degree burns.
Back in October 2024, little Scarlett Selby from Festus froze a NeeDoh squishy toy overnight and then microwaved it—mimicking a viral challenge she’d seen on TikTok and YouTube. But the seemingly harmless experiment turned into horror when the toy exploded in her hands, showering her face and chest with scalding, glue-like gel.
“She touched it to make sure it wasn’t too hot—then it just blew up,” her father, Josh Selby, recalled. “It happened so fast. Her scream—it was blood-curdling.”
The substance stuck to Scarlett’s skin like molten glue. Josh rushed to her aid, ripping off her shirt as the burning goo clung to her body. Fearing her airway could close from the burns, he raced her to the nearest hospital—30 minutes away—where doctors placed her in a medically induced coma.
“I was a complete mess,” Josh said. “She spent a week in the hospital, three days in a coma. I couldn’t speak without crying.”
Doctors ultimately decided against a skin graft at the time, but Scarlett’s mother, Amanda Blankenship, fears that may change due to the “profound” scars on her daughter’s chest and face. During her hospital stay, Scarlett’s lips were so badly burned she required a feeding tube.
“She was still screaming when we got to the hospital,” Amanda said. “It was heartbreaking. She was terrified. She’d just been copying something she saw online.”
The family is now warning others about the dangers of squishy toys like NeeDoh cubes and pleading with parents to throw them away.
“The gel inside is like hot glue—it sticks instantly, and you can’t get it off,” Josh explained. “This should never be marketed the way it is. And it definitely shouldn’t be microwaved or frozen. It nearly destroyed my daughter.”
The Selbys are calling on Schylling Toys, the maker of NeeDoh products, to make their warnings more visible. While the company’s website does include a caution that reads, “Do NOT heat, freeze, or microwave—may cause personal injury,” the family believes it’s not enough.
Tyla has reached out to Schylling Toys for comment.
Both TikTok and YouTube say they have strict guidelines banning content that promotes dangerous or harmful behavior. TikTok says it uses AI to monitor harmful trends and notifies its safety teams when spikes in risky content occur. YouTube, a 13+ platform, says it removes videos showing minors engaged in unsafe stunts and offers parental control options.
Still, Amanda and Josh hope no other family will have to suffer as they have.
“This was supposed to be a toy,” Josh said. “But what it did to Scarlett will haunt us forever.”