A Japanese live streamer who died last year on Mt. Fuji while streaming his climb has won the 2020 Darwin Awards.
Tetsu “Tedzu” Shiohara, 47, lacked the “proper gear, climbing experience, and a booster pack of common sense” when he made the fatal climb on Oct. 28, 2019, according to the Darwin Awards via SoraNews24.
Tedzu became the first Japanese person to ever win the Darwin Awards. The awards, as the website states, is dedicated to those who died in “an extraordinarily idiotic manner.”
Tedzu reportedly wore regular street wear when he went up one of the three holy mountains in Japan that stands at 12,388 feet (3,776 meters). He only brought a pair of climbing poles, a pair of inadequate gloves and his smartphone as part of his equipment for the ascent.
Tedzu gave more priorities to his social media presence and his live stream, titled “Let’s Go to Snowy Mt. Fuji,” rather than his own life, reported SoraNews24.
“Continuing social media commentary as he juggles climbing poles and smart phone in his frostbitten mitts, Tedzu demonstrates a classic case of misplaced priorities when he states that despite numb extremities, he ‘MUST continue to operate’ his livestream,” Darwin Awards organizers said via SoraNews24.
Tedzu slipped as he was reaching the summit of the mountain that eventually led to his untimely demise.
After viewers witnessed his accident, many of them immediately notified the authorities. His lifeless body wasn’t found until the following day near the seventh station of the mountain at around 9,800 feet (1,000 meters) away from where he fell.