‘Gorilla Glue Girl’ Accused of Lying by Louisiana Man Who Attempts ‘Challenge’ Before Landing in ER

Tessica Brown, the “Gorilla Glue Girl,” was accused of lying about the seriousness of her situation by a Louisiana man who attempted the “challenge” before landing in the ER himself. WKBN News spoke with the man, Len Martin, who made a video of himself gluing a red Solo cup to his lip with Gorilla Glue, which he claimed he could lick off. When the “challenge” didn’t go the way he planned, Martin had to go to the emergency room for medical treatment.

“Everyone is on social media, every day there is a new challenge, but I did not think it would go this far,” said Martin, who once appeared on the Dr. Oz show to talk about his experience with the ice cream challenge from 2020. Martin told WKBN that the doctor was able to get the cup off his face, describing it as a “painful peeling.” He explained that he was told if his lip does not heal properly then he will likely have to undergo surgery to have the tip of his lip removed. “This is not the challenge you want to try,” Martin warned.

Gorilla Glue has also urged people to stay away from the so-called challenge and issued a new statement clarifying exactly why. “Our spray adhesive states in the warning label, ‘Do not swallow, do not get in eyes, on skin or on clothing…’ It is used for craft, home, auto or office projects to mount things to surfaces such as paper, cardboard, wood, laminate and fabric.”

The “Gorilla Glue Challenge” seems to have started when 40-year-old Brown shared on TikTok that she’d put the adhesive in her hair as a hairspray alternative, but then she was unable to remove it. After trying many different methods, she eventually sought medical assistance. Still, there was little that could be done.

Finally, this week, PEOPLE reported that Brown flew to Los Angles where plastic surgeon Dr. Michael Obeng, who provided his services free of charge, was able to successfully “remove all of the Gorilla Glue out of her hair,” per Brown’s manager, Gina Rodriguez. “She is currently resting and healing from the ordeal,” Rodriguez added. “As you can imagine, Tessica’s scalp is extremely sensitive right now and will need some time to recover.”