23 TV Moments So Stressful, People Could Hardly Watch Them
My heart rate spiked just writing this.
Recently, we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about the most anxiety-inducing TV moments, and listed them here — but there were so many more submitted! Here are 23 more terrifyingly stressful TV moments.
WARNING: Spoilers ahead!
DOUBLE WARNING: Some of the scenes below are graphic.
1. On 9-1-1: Lone Star, when a man got stuck in a cave and his son had to go find help:
"There’s a scene from the TV show 9-1-1 when a father and son are exploring caves and the son is nervous about it. The dad gets stuck headfirst below the son, who had to go back up through the cave to get help for his dad. I had to change the channel a few times 'cause the dad being stuck like that made me anxious!"
2. On Game of Thrones, when Daenarys left Jon with the wights after they killed Viserion:
"When Jon and the guys are surrounded by wights after the Night King kills Viserion, and they need to get the hell out of there before he gets Drogon, but Dany doesn’t want to leave Jon. PHEW. (Just watched this episode, and my head is still reeling.)"
3. On Glee, when Quinn was texting and driving on the way to Rachel and Finn's wedding:
"On Glee, in the episode 'On My Way,' when Quinn gets hit by the truck for texting while driving always stresses me out."
4. On The Walking Dead, when Negan lined everyone up and taunted them with a barbed-wire baseball bat before beating multiple characters to death:
"The whole time Negan was talking in The Walking Dead before he killed Glenn and Abraham. I didn't know who he was going to kill. It was horrible. Also, watching the other characters cry made it worse."
5. On 9-1-1, when Christopher fell off the fire truck after the tsunami:
"During the 9-1-1 tsunami episode when Christopher fell off the fire truck and into the water. That whole episode was anxiety-inducing, but especially that scene."
6. On One Tree Hill, when Jimmy brought a gun to school and shot Peyton before holding Nathan, Haley, Skills, Mouth, Rachel, and others hostage:
"Gets me every time."
7. On The Office, when Michael had to tell the high schoolers that he couldn't pay their tuition:
"'Scott’s Tots' from The Office gives me huge anxiety...I know it’s a comedy, but oh man, that is the most awkward, cringey, anxiety-inducing episode of a comedy show that I’ve ever seen."
8. On Grey's Anatomy, when Bailey was hiding under a patient's bed from the shooter:
"Charles' death and Miranda Bailey's near-death during the shooting episode on Grey's Anatomy. Honestly the entire episode, but that moment destroyed me. There was no relief."
9. On Superstore, when Amy and Cheyenne were helping Mateo escape Immigration and Customs Enforcement while Dina gave them instructions over the radio:
"No matter how many times I watch it, I never stop being stressed out, even though I know the heartbreaking ending."
10. On House M.D., when House did surgery on HIS OWN leg:
"How about the episode of House when he's operating on himself to take out the tumors in his leg? Yowza. That was definitely one of those 'I want to look away but I CAN'T' episodes."
11. On This Is Us, when we didn't know when or exactly how Jack was going to die in the Super Bowl episode:
"I feel like the 'Super Bowl Sunday' episode of This Is Us should be on here...you know Jack dies, but waiting for it to happen was so stressful!"
12. On Sherlock, when Sherlock thought he only had minutes to get Molly to say "I love you" or else get blown up:
"I would say the most tense moment of Sherlock is when Euros threatens to bomb Molly Hooper's apartment in three minutes unless Sherlock can get her to say 'I love you.' It's emotionally exhausting because we all know she loves him but has been disregarded and used too many times by him, and Sherlock knows that he's hurting her intentionally. Then for her to say it right at the last minute, only for Euros to reveal that there were no bombs in her flat, and watch Sherlock completely break down...devastating."
13. On Julie and the Phantoms, when Julie was performing "Stand Tall" without the phantoms and they slowly started to appear, but Luke was glitching:
"I think the episode when Julie’s performing 'Stand Tall' and the Phantoms slowly appeared to perform with her was...anxiety inducing, especially since Luke was glitching and losing strength."
"I would say that I had more anxiety in 'Stand Tall' because we weren't sure if they were gonna make it, and it really was nerve-racking to watch."
14. On The Rookie, when Lucy was buried alive in a barrel in the middle of nowhere:
15. On Buffy the Vampire Slayer, when Buffy woke up and had to crawl her way out of her own grave:
"Buried-alive ones get me every time — may I also add when Buffy is brought back to life and has to claw her way out of her coffin, because, MAN."
16. On The 100, when Clarke didn't make it back to the ship, then ran from the death wave, breaking her helmet:
"What about in the Season 4 finale of The 100 when we were all just hoping that Clarke would make it back to the ship, and then it left and the death wave went over her and we thought she was dead?"
17. On The Wilds, when Rachel and Leah dove to find the plane's black box again and again, even as Leah refused to continue, causing Rachel to grab her ankle to keep her from surfacing:
"Rachel keeps making Leah dive again and again to try to dislodge the box, even though Leah is exhausted. The way the jump cuts and Rachel's drill sergeant–style pep talk work together make for a really tense scene. Rachel even goes so far as to grab Leah's ankle to keep her underwater when she tries to go back up for air again."
18. On Bodyguard, when David discovered that there was a suicide bomber on his train and tried to talk her out of setting off the bomb:
"So no one's going to talk about the first 20 minutes of Bodyguard???"
19. On Bones, when Booth was taken hostage by the Grave Digger and Brennan was told he only had 21 hours to live:
20. On Lovecraft Country, when a racist cop followed Atticus, Letitia, and George as they struggled to make it past the county line by sundown without going above the speed limit, or else be murdered:
"That was the most nerve-racking scene I’ve seen in a long time."
21. On Money Heist, when Nairobi was captured and tortured:
"I can’t finish the series because of it."
22. On The Handmaid's Tale, when June and a bunch of other handmaids were brought to Fenway Park and made to think they were about to be hanged until Aunt Lydia came out:
23. And finally, the entirety of the Doctor Who episode "Blink":
"That entire episode with the Weeping Angels was pure anxiety. Just waiting and waiting, and then not knowing who or how anything was going to happen. Such a great episode."
Submissions have been edited for length and clarity.