IShowSpeed added another entry to his long list of viral challenges this week, after racing a cheetah during a trip to South Africa.
The 20-year-old streamer, whose real name is Darren Watkins Jr., shared the clip on his social media accounts earlier this week.
In the video, Speed is seen sprinting shirtless alongside a cheetah that is released from a cage at the same time as he takes off. The animal accelerates almost immediately and, as you may have guessed, pulls ahead within seconds, while Speed continues running beside it.
The race had been rumored several days earlier after the X account IShowSpeedHQ claimed Speed was planning to race a cheetah as part of his ongoing Africa tour. The post quickly gained traction, drawing tens of thousands of likes and comments.
Once the video surfaced, fan reactions were largely what you might expect. Many commenters joked about the outcome, with phrases like “he’s cooked” appearing repeatedly under reposts of the clip. Other fans praised Speed for committing to another extreme challenge, even with the result all but guaranteed.
This wasn’t Speed’s first time turning sprinting into a viral show. In November 2024, he raced Olympic champion Noah Lyles in a 50-metre sprint with $100,000 on the line. Lyles won, but Speed had a pretty strong start, which surprised viewers and gave him a bit of street cred in the sprinting game.
But against a cheetah, there was not much suspense. Cheetahs can reach speeds of roughly 60 to 70 miles per hour in short bursts, making them the fastest land animals on the planet. Elite human sprinters top out at less than half that. The race was no doubt more of a viral visual than a competition.
The clip also revived an older comment from YouTuber MrBeast, who suggested last July that Speed race a cheetah. MrBeast had previously featured the animal in his own video, “World’s Fastest Car Vs Cheetah!”, where the cheetah beat several high-performance vehicles over short distances.
The video appears to have been filmed in a controlled environment, with handlers present and no physical interaction between Speed and the animal. Still, content involving wildlife often draws scrutiny, and the clip prompted some discussion about where influencers should draw ethical lines.
Speed’s formula for virality remains the same. He sets up a challenge with a foregone conclusion, commits, and lets the internet do the rest. So, we’re just left wondering, what comes next?
