# People eating Tide pods **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 5, 2013, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541 "2013-12-05T01:52:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2018, 10:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/81 "2018-01-19T22:35:34Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > Ha! I totally remember wanting to eat the yummy looking insulation:p I DID eat the plaster out of the holes in our walls. Do you think it had lead in it? ::twitch > [@MEBuckner](#): > > How about an artisanal, locally sourced detergent pod? Only if it’s been “curated”. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Weisshund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/ba8739/32.png) [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/82 "2018-01-22T02:16:22Z")
Damned Zombies Always eating the dish and laundry soap ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 5:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/83 "2018-01-22T05:25:06Z")
But…clean zombies! ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/84 "2018-01-22T05:37:13Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > But…clean zombies! Their innards, at least. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 5:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/85 "2018-01-22T05:52:32Z")
Funny, I just listened to a [Yes, Yes, No](https://player.fm/series/reply-all/114-apocalypse-soon) podcast on _Reply All_ about Tide pods. Yes, Yes, No is when the hosts attempt to explain a baffling internet meme to their clueless producer. Apparently the desire to eat tide pods has been [a recent meme](http://yesyesnos.tumblr.com/) that resulted in the [actual consumption of tide pods](https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/us/tide-pod-challenge.html) by dumb teenagers. (Hence it occupies the ‘‘famine’’ slot of the meme.) If you’ve never listened to a Yes, Yes, No on _Reply All_, now is your chance. One of my favorite things. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/86 "2018-01-22T06:46:02Z")
The lil’wrekker tells me it’s a thing with the university set. How stupid are these sub-adults? I hope no one is really eating them. I prefer to think of it as a joke. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/87 "2018-01-22T07:05:31Z")
> [@Beckdawrek](#): > > The lil’wrekker tells me it’s a thing with the university set. How stupid are these sub-adults? I hope no one is really eating them. I prefer to think of it as a joke. According to the article I linked, not only are people eating them, they are eating them at an astonishing rate so far in 2018. However the saddest bit of that article is how many children are eating them on accident. Something like 50 adult cases compared to 10,000 cases of children under five. Lock up your tide pods, parents. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/88 "2018-01-22T13:42:14Z")
> [@WOOKINPANUB](#): > > I was hoping this thread was going to explain what the ever loving hell is up with the Tide pod challenge. I only just heard about it a few days ago when it was being discussed on the local news. And again I say, W T F??? > I know teenagers are notorious for following nonsense trends and doing dumbass stuff, but this has to be the outright stupidest fad I’ve ever heard of. Is the point to see who can keep it in their mouth longest without vomiting? You “win” if it doesn’t kill you? Please tell me it at least gives you a buzz or something :smack: It’s the latest “\*\*\*\* challenge,” where “\*\*\*\*” is “[random noxious or painful “food” item]”. [Hot peppers are another one](https://youtu.be/cozHUec4sPc?t=19). Last fall a Denver news team ate potato chips made with Carolina reaper peppers; [one of the anchors ended up tossing her breakfast live on the air.](https://youtu.be/q5i9vd5lP54?t=63) So it’s not just kids who are dumb. :smack: Then there’s [this nitwit,](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/11/190707171/go-easy-on-the-soy-sauce-bro-it-could-kill-you) who almost died from hypernatremia after chugging an entire bottle of soy sauce. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/89 "2018-01-22T14:07:37Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Kids. I once saw my niece, at about 2 or 3 years old, place a cigarette butt in her mouth, and then get this absolutely horrible look on her face. The thing is, she wouldn’t – for whatever reason – surrender it. She grimaced and fought back tears and then swallowed the damned thing. In the 70s my baby sister would eat cigarette butts out of the ashtrays. Once she figured out she was going to be scolded for it, she would sneak behind a chair or curtain with an ashtray and snack away. More than once she was found with slobbery black ashes running down her chin. They had to have tasted completely nasty, but she wanted them just the same. She’s now a Registered Dietician and she is still weird. However, I myself have no room to talk. I recall making mudpies and mixing up lovely “frosting” from laundry powder and eating it because it looked so yummy! Maybe eating Tide pods is the new version of getting your mouth washed out with soap. And some people really need that. ---
**Author:** ![Grumbacher\_Red](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/85e7bf/32.png) [@Grumbacher\_Red](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grumbacher_Red)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/90 "2018-01-22T14:14:09Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > It’s the latest “\*\*\*\* challenge,” where “\*\*\*\*” is “[random noxious or painful “food” item]”. [Hot peppers are another one](https://youtu.be/cozHUec4sPc?t=19). Last fall a Denver news team ate potato chips made with Carolina reaper peppers; [one of the anchors ended up tossing her breakfast live on the air.](https://youtu.be/q5i9vd5lP54?t=63) So it’s not just kids who are dumb. :smack: > > Then there’s [this nitwit,](https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2013/06/11/190707171/go-easy-on-the-soy-sauce-bro-it-could-kill-you) who almost died from hypernatremia after chugging an entire bottle of soy sauce. Wasn’t there something a couple of years ago called The Cinnamon Challenge and people were getting sick off that, too? ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/91 "2018-01-22T14:19:43Z")
> [@Grumbacher\_Red](#): > > Wasn’t there something a couple of years ago called The Cinnamon Challenge and people were getting sick off that, too? Sick, and occasionally [dead.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinnamon_challenge#Health_dangers) Thanks, forgot about that. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/92 "2018-01-22T15:55:01Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > It’s the latest “\*\*\*\* challenge,” where “\*\*\*\*” is “[random noxious or painful “food” item]”. [Hot peppers are another one](https://youtu.be/cozHUec4sPc?t=19). Last fall a Denver news team ate potato chips made with Carolina reaper peppers; [one of the anchors ended up tossing her breakfast live on the air.](https://youtu.be/q5i9vd5lP54?t=63) So it’s not just kids who are dumb. :smack: That chip is really freaking hot, but it’s still in “sane” territory for me. (Then again, I grow reapers, scorpions, and ghosts.) What is pretty dumb is what I saw on this Youtube video where one guy ate 100 (!) dried Trinidad scorpion peppers (which are about the same heat level as reapers), ten at a time, and ended up vomiting blood and in the hospital. Now _that_ is dumb. ETA: Actually, sorry, I found the Youtube video, and it was 100 reapers. Feel free to search for it, but I don’t feel like linking it here. It’s the one that has “hospital”, “vomit”, and “blood” in the title of it (because, yes, apparently there is more than one video, although I doubt the veracity of at least one other one I saw.) ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/93 "2018-01-22T16:03:24Z")
> [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](#): > > What exact advantage to detergent pods offer over powders & liquids, anyway? For us we save money by using less detergent. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/94 "2018-01-22T16:08:09Z")
> [@Silvorange](#): > > Is it possible that Tide pods are just that good? I have some in my laundry room… I have long found it annoying that Tide pods ping my peripheral vision as “food” or “candy”. My brain goes “HEY! Possibly yummie over there, turn the head/eyes for a better look – oh, wait, it’s soap”. I hasten to add I have no desire to eat one, but they certainly do look appealing and I can see where toddlers or people with eyesight/cognitive issues might have a go at them. The current “social media challenge” that involves teenagers/young adults eating them, however, is stupid, hazardous, and really needs to stop. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/95 "2018-01-22T16:26:43Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > That chip is really freaking hot, but it’s still in “sane” territory for me. (Then again, I grow reapers, scorpions, and ghosts.) What is pretty dumb is what I saw on this Youtube video where one guy ate 100 (!) dried Trinidad scorpion peppers (which are about the same heat level as reapers), ten at a time, and ended up vomiting blood and in the hospital. Now _that_ is dumb. ETA: Actually, sorry, I found the Youtube video, and it was 100 reapers. Feel free to search for it, but I don’t feel like linking it here. It’s the one that has “hospital”, “vomit”, and “blood” in the title of it (because, yes, apparently there is more than one video, although I doubt the veracity of at least one other one I saw.) Watched it. The blood is interesting. The [Wikipedia page for capsaicin](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsaicin#Toxicity) describes it as an irritant, but doesn’t mention GI bleeding as an exposure symptom. Possibly the prolonged wretching and vomiting resulted in the development of a [Mallory-Weiss tear](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mallory%E2%80%93Weiss_syndrome) in his esophagus. Happened to me once (not from hot peppers, just violent emesis), was quite disconcerting. Nonetheless, it’s a fantastic achievement, eating 100 reapers. His parents are surely beaming with pride, especially with it having been so thoroughly documented for all to see, and it’s something he’ll be able to proudly list on his résumé someday. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/96 "2018-01-22T16:46:19Z")
Yeah, I was wondering about the blood, too. Those things are fricking lethal. My first Trinidad scorpion I ate in one shot on an empty stomach (it wasn’t a dare, just was excited to finally have one ripen in my garden and taste it for the first time. Actually “one shot” was more like a few exploratory nibbles and then, confident that I could handle the heat, the rest.) Turned out the heat was wicked, but not enough to have me running for the bread and milk or whatever. But the burn as it slid down my esophagus into my empty stomach? Shit. Bad idea eating it on an empty stomach. Pain kicked in about a half hour to forty five minutes later and was brutal. I cannot for the life of me imagine what this person was going through. ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/97 "2018-01-22T21:24:56Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > I have long found it annoying that Tide pods ping my peripheral vision as “food” or “candy”. My brain goes “HEY! Possibly yummie over there, turn the head/eyes for a better look – oh, wait, it’s soap”. My brother ate a bath bead once, which kind of makes sense based on how they look… [![](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/28/ef/31/28ef3153626ffc5026ec95634abb29a8--bath-oil-beads-bubble-baths.jpg) ](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/28/ef/31/28ef3153626ffc5026ec95634abb29a8--bath-oil-beads-bubble-baths.jpg) …but I think he was old enough that he should have wondered why they were storing a bowl of candy on the toilet tank. Then again, I was a full-grown adult when someone gave me one of these as a gift and I promptly bit into it! :o > **[Easy Homemade Cinnamon Ornaments | McCormick](https://www.mccormick.com/recipes/other/cinnamon-ornaments)** > > These homemade Cinnamon Ornaments are a perfect holiday fun activity for kids. The ornaments are easy to make and their aroma lasts long after the holidays are over. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/98 "2018-01-22T21:58:12Z")
> [@snfaulkner](#): > > NECRO ALERT! > > This thread just got a mention on [VICE](https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/bjyaz8/amazon-reviews-are-in-and-tide-pod-challenge) > [@WotNot](#): > > It’s also mentioned in [the Wikipedia article.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eating_Tide_Pods#Internet_meme) Holy crap. I’d been hearing about the concept of eating Tide pods lately, but I never dreamed it started here on the SDMB. ---
**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/99 "2018-01-22T22:03:15Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Holy crap. I’d been hearing about the concept of eating Tide pods lately, but I never dreamed it started here on the SDMB. Well, this just took a turn for the surreal. ---
**Author:** ![Machine\_Elf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/82dd89/32.png) [@Machine\_Elf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Machine_Elf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2018, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541/100 "2018-01-22T22:27:22Z")
You can now buy [Tide-Pod pizza and Tide-Pod donuts.](http://knowyourmeme.com/memes/eating-tide-pods#foods) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/people-eating-tide-pods/675541.md?page=6)