tonight on "nightline" -- excited delirium, a frightening phenomenon said to make even the most docile person said to act like a wild animal. but could it be caused by a dangerous new street drug known as bath salts? tonight, why doctors and cops are worried. "dance moms." it's the controversial reality show where very young girls go through grueling practices. >> what more do you want from her? >> and high stakes competitions. we go behind the scenes to ask, how far should a kid be pushed to be the best? and epic mealtime. they built a youtube empire whipping up monster feasts with hundreds of thousands of calories. we meet the guys behind the sensation as they create yet

another bacon-laced gut-buster. >> announcer: from the global resources of abc news, with terry moran, cynthia mcfadden, and bill weir in new york city, this is "nightline," may 30, 2012. good evening, i'm bill weir. bath salts, it's not a term you think would strike dread into the hearts of cops nationwide, but it's become the street name for a potent drug that could be available at your local mall or convenience store, right next to the vitamin supplements. not only does it bring an extreme high for some, but it's also been said to cause excited delirium. some think a ghastly crime in miami is just the latest consequences. here's abc's matt gutman. >> reporter: watch this police video of a man in a psychotic state called excited delirium. the violence and superhuman strength.

bloody, naked and hallucinating, they fight their demons. and anybody near them. walking through bullets, snapping off tase taser prongs. growling like caged animals. those afflicted by it are literally cooking in their adrenaline-fueled bodies. most of them are overdosing on drugs and lately increasing numbers on a new drug, legal for the most part. its street name? bath salts. >> this may be the next epidemic. >> reporter: dr. deborah nash is a neuroscientist and one of the nation's leading experts on excited delirium. and addiction. >> the numbers of adverse events associated with bath salts has increased threefold in the past year. >> reporter: cases have shot to national attention since saturday when rudy was found here in miami, naked and chewing another man's face off.

>> i never thought i'd see a man eating someone. it was really horrific. >> reporter: the victim of the attack, a homeless miami man, lost up to 80% of his face. police think it may be connected to bath salts. and it has scientists like nash who have been studying these drugs for a generation genuinely scared. >> this raises a new level of fear in me. this is almost like a science fiction episode where someone makes a very dangerous molecule and it's released into the public. >> reporter: the powder is mostly snorted creating a euphoria or rush that comes with dangerous side effects. we rode along with a former narcotics officer who's been patrolling these streets for 30 years. >> it's concerning for officers to know that no one officer can subdue these people. it takes 10 or 15 people. >> reporter: bath salts. they would not be what you're thinking of.

these would be useless in a tub. still legal in many states, the drug mimics the effects of cocaine or met amphetamine, but each strain is different clouds under different names at suburban malls and even convenience malls across the country. >> there's a spectrum. >> dr. burns from florida poison control is an e.r. doctor at miami's memorial hospital and he's seen it firsthand. >> in particular, the patients are suicidal, they have negative thoughts they can't get rid of. many of them are hearing voices. and that seems to go on even after they stop the drug. >> reporter: in a previous investigation for "20/20," we saw firsthand just how dangerous bath salts can be. dickey sanders, an athletic young man and avid bmx biker had taken about $40 worth of bath salts. his father and stepmother, both doctors, were at a loss. >> bath salts? like salt he put in the bathtub?

>> reporter: he had snorted it and it sent him into waves of hallucinations. right in the kitchen, he saw nonexistent police cars and helicopters. >> he was counting them, 21, 22, there's at least 30 police cars out there, dad. >> reporter: and suddenly those suicidal thoughts. >> he grabbed a butcher knife and impulsively slashed his neck from ear to ear. >> reporter: for nicky, that cut wasn't too deep. 24 hours later they found him here in his bedroom bleeding with a rifle at his feet. >> i said, baby, he's dead. we lost him. he's gone. he took his life because he was just scared out of his mind. the drug destroyed him. >> reporter: that's the biggest fear among the medical community, more than cocaine or even meth it seems bath salts permanently alter the brain's chemistry. >> sweatin insweating, agitatio,

all the way up to coma and death. but also the psychiatric symptoms people get. >> reporter: a ban has been put on the chemicals it's been proposed, but there's still no federal thought the drugs are still being sold in a dozen states. >> around the world, he's a monster, a cannibal. >> reporter: it could be weeks for a toxicology report reveals whether he was high on bath salts when he attacked his victim. but with bath salts on the rise, law enforcement is bracing for more horror like this. i'm matt gutman in miami. >> thanks to matt. coming up -- a peek behind the scenes of the red-hot reality show, dans moms, -- "dance moms," for a look at

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>> announcer: "nightline" continues from new york city with bill weir. a century ago people had kids because they needed help around the farm. these days, if reality tv is any indication, people have kids

because they need a room full of $14 trophies. "dance moms" is the latest vehicle to examine the line to between parenting and vicarious insanity. john donvan went in for a look. ♪ >> reporter: a year ago, they were just kids from around pittsburgh who spent a lot of time in dance class and some of the time competing. chloe and maddie and nia, and brooke, and paige, and mckenzie, but then their dance class became reality television. now you're stars. well, they are stars. they and their mothers. >> i think that's one of the things that resonates with the audience is that we are dynamic personalities. there's a lot of craziness, but it's a lot of fun. >> reporter: because that's the name of the show, "dance moms," where every week four moms watch their kids get ready for another

dance competition every weekend. and kids work four to five hours a day after school, often until 9:00 p.m. the moms hover and bicker. the moms interfere. >> stop talking about my it daughter! >> we're saying we're a team! >> does it ever distract you when you're trying to just do the best you can? >> yes. going on? >> i just try to just block all the chaos and the drama going on just out of my head and focus on my dancing. >> reporter: but it's not just about dance. >> ball change, up. >> reporter: and maybe that's what accounts for the show's passionate fan base. it's about what it takes to be the best and whether that's worth it. >> it's eight, not nine half or ten. eight! >> reporter: and it all hinges on the fact that the dance instructor abby lee miller, does not believe that every mother's child is as special as the next.

>> do you know that tune? if i made you do it again, could you do it? >> reporter: quite the controversial proposition nowadays. >> i want everything to look great, do you understand? >> so you think kids are overcoddled? >> yes. ridiculously so. >> so the whole notion of every kid gets a trophy doesn't work? >> kids get a trophy now for being born. no! that's participation. give them a t-shirt a sweat towel, a water bottle. something like that. the trophy should be earned. >> reporter: these girls do earn a lot of trophies. they are amazingly good dancers, and miller got them there. >> dance! don't just be a stick figure. but at what price, the show asks. each week she ranks them, top of the pyramid and the bottom. a device the producers of the show invented. the lesson being -- >> come on, you want to knock the person on top off. that's the goal. >> reporter: and she rides them. >> suck it up and don't leave again because there's another kid waiting to get in.

>> she doesn't have a brain in her head. i've had it with you! >> she calls us stupid and dumb. >> well, some kids sometimes do stupid things. >> reporter: and week after week, she makes the girls cry. >> oh! >> reporter: and then she really gets mad, telling them to suck it up, save it for your pillow. >> suck it up. i don't want to see those pillows. >> you said to one girl, tears are for when you break your arm and it's hanging off, or when somebody dies. >> that's true, but don't cry because you didn't win. >> reporter: which is where the moms come in. half the time they're angling to get their daughters ahead, the rest of the time their against abbey's methods. >> may i speak to you a minute? >> no. >> i want to talk to you. you don't throw my kid out of class. i paid for class. >> why are they questioning me? i don't go to anybody's office and say, excuse me, why are you -- >> they're questioning you because you're making their kids cry. >> sometimes. and sometimes i'm making their kids' dreams come true.

>> don't hunch the shoulders! >> i respect her as a teacher, from one educator to another. there are aspects of her that i like, but i think that her methods are questionable at best at times. >> come here! paige, i'll have your head on a platter. >> reporter: a lot of the performances have dark themes like girls with golden guns and lost children. the costumes they're already wearing a lot of makeup, the youngest is only seven. sometimes this is where the moms step in, but the costumes and dark themes, that's what wins, patty says. >> the dark wins. why? i don't know. >> reporter: and that's why probably the mothers usually give in. of course, they're not just "dance moms" now. they're dance moms playing themselves on television. more than 20 mothers from abby's studio were considered for these roles. the four chosen were not picked for their meekness. >> how many times did my it daughter beat your daughter this year? >> so how real is the reality of "dance moms"? pretty real, the kids say.

>> it's actually just how our lives are. it really is. >> reporter: pretty real, the moms say too. >> no one can tell me what to do, cassie. >> you may as well stick her hand up her butt and be her sven tril kwist. >> we're mothers struggling with things that every mother struggles with in a very public fashion. are we always right? no. >> reporter: not always right? you know who agrees with that, don't you? and these moms are just in the way. >> roadblock. >> reporter: that's reality see on television. i'm john donvan for "nightline" in lancaster, people pen. >> and the new season of "dance moms" premiers june 5 on lifetime. just ahead -- a bacon cheeseburger the size of a toilet seat. how a youtube food sensation is bucking the health trend in a most epic way. .. [ voice of dennis ] ...allstate. really? i was afraid you'd have some cut-rate policy. [ normal voice ] nope, i've got...

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whether you're worried about your swimsuit size or the national obesity epidemic,'tis the season to mix in some yogurt and sit-ups, but not for three bacon-loving buddies youtube

megastars. they are the pharaohs of the grease pyramid. and for john bourbon, epic mealtime is a sign of the times. >> beef, lots of beef. i'm hungry. >> reporter: do you like party food? i mean, really party food. >> of course we're going to deep-fry it. this is epic mealtime. >> reporter: i mean like heart attack party food. >> bacon strips, bacon strips, bacon strips. >> reporter: if you like this, and also crude jokes designed for a 14-year-old, then you're like the millions and millions of people who love youtube sensation "epic mealtime." >> is it a food show or comedy show? >> it's a celebration of a food show. not a cooking show. a celebration of food show. >> that bite just hurt my jaw. >> reporter: a food show where they prepare an insane creation of infinite caloric value. a thanksgiving episode included

a bird in a bird in a bird in a bird in a pig. these shows have earned millions and millions and millions of views on youtube. >> we're making a meat pizza. >> reporter: 26-year-old holly warrenstein is the brain of the show, not to mention the mouth and stomach. a couple of years ago, he was a substitute teacher who had big dreams of hitting it big on the internet. he and a friend dabbled in all sorts of web contests, even winning an award from john tesh for this tribute. ♪ so we're out for john tesh >> reporter: their success for "epic mealtime" didn't come by accident. they decided there was a market for a food show and licensed the domain name even before posting their first epic video. >> people are, like, did you expect this? i was, like, no, i expected to waste my time producing scum that no one's going to like. >> reporter: we went behind the scenes to see them prepare one of their episodes. a dessert involving ice cream,

jack daniels, ice cream, bake on, bake on, and bacon. >> describe to me your feelings about this. >> this is my job. when you hold this in front of me, this is work. this is my suit right here. it's my blazer and my microphone, to you. it brings home the bacon. >> reporter: the shows take up to $1,000 apiece to produce. but they are self-sustaining thanks to aggressive advertising and sales. >> "epic mealtime is a brand. it's more than a show. we have a whole merchandise line, web sites, ad sales. there's so many aspects to it that i never thought i'd be involved in. >> without being goshe, are you making a good living doing this? >> yeah. i still live in my parents' home, you know. >> reporter: still they persevere, engaged in a weekly game of oneupsmanship, eating

more and more and worse and worse. >> reporter: are you concerned at all about the methods? there are kids out there getting your autographs. >> i'm going to do it. i'll die for this. you don't do it. just watch and enjoy. you know, buy a t-shirt. that's how you can contribute. >> reporter: so you don't feel any responsibility at all? >> if you're going to say i'm the reason why that fat kid is eating all the cheeseburgers, that's crazy. he's probably going to eat cheeseburgers anyway. >> reporter: maybe. maybe he'd eat the ice cream jack daniels, ice cream bacon bacon and bacon thing they made for us. or maybe not. >> five-foot ice cream sundae! >> reporter: but, like it or not, you do have to sort of agree it is epic. >> tell them. tell them how good it tastes. tell them. >> reporter: what makes a meal epic? >> the number one thing, it's always underrated. friendship. >> reporter: friendship tastes good? >> friendship tastes amazing, and it smells even better. neim