Orbeez, the latest toy that kids are obsessed with, are tiny, multicolored polymer beads that expand like crazy when put into water. Obviously, because they’re meant to appeal to a child’s mind, plenty of adults have also discovered that they’re perfect for doing dumb shit with on the internet. Amidst the unexpected, full-blown genre of video that involves putting lots of Orbeez places and uploading the results to social media, a guy in France named Cyril Schreiner has managed to stand out by destroying his bathroom—and, he claims, his neighborhood’s sewage system—with them.
@yuqheis tweeted the chain of events with English commentary, beginning with a clip of Schreiner trying to figure out how to dispose of a bathtub filled with Orbeez after making a video with them. He pulls the plug to drain them, causing his toilet and sink to overflow with what looks like clown vomit. An attempt to vacuum up the mess causes his vacuum to break so he tries to use salt to clear the drains.
Geysers of raw sewage then begin to shoot out of the sink, but Schreiner keeps the footage going, showing himself crying and heading outside to find mounds of shit-covered beads collecting outside of manhole covers and into drainage ditches. This last clip ends with him receiving a letter from city hall that the Orbeez have damaged his entire neighborhood’s sewers and that police are looking for the people responsible.
Another update shows Schreiner talking to a local official, trying to hide his crimes. He tapes the conversation, captioning it, appropriately enough, “Listen, I’m in shit!!”
This is all, in all likelihood, fake. But, “fake” when it comes to filling a bathroom with tiny, slippery beads that expand when exposed to water doesn’t mean all that much. A parents’ guide to Orbeez, for example, cautions: “Never pour or flush [the beads] down the drain. As a result of their growth in water, the beads can clog pipes and even lead to bursting pipes.” Even if Schreiner staged everything—which is probable, especially considering that his social channels are comprised mostly of joke videos—he still has to clean out an enormous mess that involves scooping out toilets and finding multicolored balls in every corner of his home for months to come. In short: Yeah, this whole thing is probably a prank, but it’s the kind of prank that’s way more of a pain in the ass for the guy behind it than anyone watching his videos.
[via Digg]
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