‘Don’t tell Willy Wonka’: How dirty are gummy bears at a help yourself candy store?

In the name of science, an enterprising young researcher took samples from containers of gummy bears at a candy store to see how clean or dirty they might be.

The TikTok video showing the experiment was put up on the @howdirtyis account. The bio to that account notes, "Let's see just how nasty everything really is!" Videos on the account seek to discover just what's growing on a range of different surfaces, including beards, swimsuits, and Target self-checkout screens.

Soundtracked, predictably, to Gummibär's "I'm a Gummy Bear (The Gummy Bear Song)," the video shows a candy store with gummy bears and other treats out on display tables. The video then shows a pair of hands and an on-screen caption reading, "Let's check the tongs." The person in the video then swabs the tongs with a long cotton-tipped swab and puts the sample in a tube.

The person then does the same thing with the gummies, swabbing them directly.

As the creator then does in these videos, they prepare culture dishes in a lab to see what grows on them.

@howdirtyis How dirty is a help yourself candy store? Don’t tell Willy Wonka… #candy #candyshop #candytok #sweet #sweets #s#scienceg#germs#sciencebiatchg#grossn#nastyh#howdirtyisd#dirtyi#interestingb#bacterias#sciencetokc#coolf#fypc#cleanf#foryoum#microc#curiousサ#サイエンス科#科学実#実験バ#バクテリアf#funfactf#factsf#factg#germsi#interestingfacti#interestingfactsa#amazingfacta#amazingfactsa#amazingr#randomfactsr#randomfactr#randomfactsforyouf#factstimed#dailyfactf#funfactsf#factofthedayf#funfactoftheday#b#biob#biologyb#biomedl#labl#labworkl#laboratoriob#biologiam#microbiologias#scitokS#ScienceToks#scienceismagics#scienceiscools#sciencefairf#foreigngermsg#germsquadm#mygermsv#viralb#bacterialb#bacterialcontaminationp#petriedishバ#バクテリアサ#サイエンス科#科学実#実験面#面白い面#面白い動画v#viralv#viralvideov#viraltiktokt#trendingt#trendingvideot#trendingtiktok세#세균s#stems#stems#stemfeedS#STEMfeed ♬ I Am Your Gummy Bear (The Gummy Bear Song) - Gummibär

The tongs sample had a little bit of growth on it, with the on-screen caption noting, "Tongs aren't terrible."

Then, the big reveal on the gummies: No growth at all.

The on-screen caption notes, "Clean candy!"

Commenters had reactions ready.

"I thought you were about to ruin candy for me too," one noted.

Someone else said, "Did not expect that!"

"I worked at one of these stores for 6 years," said a commenter with the user name Garbage Humans. "It VERY much depends on the staff. Those things got GROSSS at other stores."

Another shared, "I used to work at a place like this and every night we had to dump out the candy in bins and run all the containers in the dishwasher."

Someone else remarked, "Expected it to at least be like Golden Corral."

The Daily Dot has reached out to the creator via TikTok comment.

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