Shannon, the woman addicted to drinking gasoline, on My Strange Addiction

My Strange Addiction, the TLC hit show, took its viewers into the bizarre world of Shannon, a young woman addicted to drinking gasoline, on its latest episode.

Hailing from Welland, Ontario, Canada, 20-year-old Shannon began drinking gasoline a year ago and she is now consuming about 12 teaspoons per day.

“I am addicted to drinking gasoline,” said Shannon.

“It tastes like sweet and sour, like a tangy sauce. It tingles at first, then it burns the back of my throat.”

Always prepared for her fix, Shannon keeps jugs of gasoline under the sink in the washroom of her Ontario home. Then, when she is not a home, she packs a water bottle full of gasoline, keeping her fix handy.

Shannon is not the first person to drink the toxic chemical. Asian newspapers reported on a Chinese man last year who has been drinking petrol for 42 years. There is also the unconfirmed report of a young Chinese boy who wanted to be the fictional character, Optimus Prime, so he drank gasoline for 5 years to “obtain energy” so he could be more like his Transformer idol.

It is safe to say the inherent risk of drinking gasoline far outweighs the addictive properties for most people. It is even more surprising when you read about the dangers of toxic gasoline additives, including: benzene, toluene, naphthalene and trimethybenzene.

For Shannon, the addiction started at a young age. She says that her addiction began as a small child, hovering in the exhaust of her mother’s car, enjoying the aroma of unburned gasoline. The attraction to gasoline was then compounded by her mother and father splitting up when she was a young girl.

“When I fill up my car, I put it all over my hand,” admitted Shannon.

“Even though it hurts me, it makes me feel good.”

The latest episode of My Strange Addiction bounced back and forth between Shannon’s drinking binges and her loved ones pleading for her to stop the deadly addictive behavior. Shannon has consumed more than 5 gallons of gas in just one year, and her behaviors have escalated to other habits like eating gasoline soaked newspapers.

Convinced she cannot survive without her daily supply of gasoline, Shannon is forced to come face-to-face with a demon that very well may kill her the next time she swallows gasoline.