Fast food is a relatively recent innovation, only about as old as the automobile, and not really taking off until the 1950s. But in that short time, it has become an ultimately pervasive part of our culture; outside the most desolate tribes, it would be difficult to find someone who has not visited a McDonald’s in his life. Fast food has established a mythos all its own; below are ten strangest marketing stunts, lawsuits, and scandals to have ever struck our drive thru world.

Burger King is no stranger to weird marketing stunts, such as the dreadful 2004 Coq Roq campaign, wherein faux nu metal rockers with chicken masks on thrashed to music filled with double entendre. Their mascot—a towering, creepy King with unmoving features, was mercifully retired in 2011. But perhaps the worst idea in company history was their 2009 Facebook “Whopper Sacrifice” campaign. The premise was simple; use the Burger King application to unfriend 10 people on Facebook, and you would get a coupon for a free Whopper. Normally, there is no notification involved in unfriending someone, but in this instance, Burger King would send the friend a message informing them that their friendship was less important to you than a free sandwich. The campaign was promptly dropped, but not before people leapt at the opportunity, abandoning almost 234,000 friends in the process (that’s more than 23,000 Whoppers).

Taco Bell is perhaps best known for its Chihuahua ad campaign, which was often derided as racist. The ads, starring Gidget, were stopped in 2000. Gidget didn’t remain unemployed for long; she found several other roles, including a spot in “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White, and Blonde”. Taco Bell didn’t fare so well… they’d stolen the Chihuahua idea from two Michigan men, Joseph Shields and Thomas Rinks. The pair pitched the idea to Taco Bell in the 1990s, but were rejected. Shortly thereafter, the restaurant chain’s new ad agency began using the concept. The men took Taco Bell to court, and in 2003, a jury awarded them $30 million. The judge promptly added on $12 million. Shields and Rinks walked away with $42 million for their troubles.

A subsidiary of Yum! Brands (which also owns KFC and Pizza Hut), Taco Bell enjoys considerable popularity worldwide, and has locations selling its Mexican fare in several countries throughout the world. A notable exception: Mexico. They made two attempts to crack the Mexican market, in 1992 and 2007, but both times folded due to lack of patronage.

Wendy’s is best known for its simple commercials starring earnest, plainspoken founder Dave Thomas. Thomas was working as a head cook in a restaurant in Fort Wayne, Indiana, when Kentucky Fried Chicken owner Colonel Harland Sanders came calling, selling franchises. Thomas, as well as the family for he worked for, bought in. In doing so, Dave worked closely with the Colonel on marketing ideas. It was Dave Thomas who suggested the idea of buckets of chicken, which help keep the product crisp. He also suggested Sanders appear in his own commercials.

The response was phenomenal, and Dave Thomas was later able to sell his share in the restaurants back to to Sanders for $1.5 million, thus giving him the capital to open Wendy’s. He’d later use this advertising formula to great effect in his own restaurants, appearing in over 800 commercials.

Despite its feel-good American dream origins, Wendy’s is not immune from the bizarre. In 2005, an employee named Steve LeMay and a co-worker were caught robbing the safe from the Manchester, NH store where they worked. The co-worker’s name? Ronald MacDonald.

In a previous list, I detailed the immense popularity of KFC on Christmas Eve in Japan, with lines snaking out the door. While business thrives in America, you aren’t likely to see that kind of rush the next time you stop in for a bucket of chicken. Unless you’d happened by in early May of 2009. None other than Oprah Winfrey advertised on her show that a coupon could be downloaded on her website for a free grilled chicken meal at KFC. According to a KFC press release, they received “unprecedented and overwhelming response”, which is the politically correct way of saying that the campaign turned into a complete circus. Millions of coupons were printed, the website couldn’t handle the traffic, and hordes of people descended on the restaurants, which quickly ran out of food. By the time KFC axed the program, an astonishing 10.5 million coupons were printed, which were eventually honored with rainchecks.

Whenever the subject of the frivolity of lawsuits comes up, the 1992 McDonald’s coffee case always pops into the conversation. While on its surface, it sounds ridiculous that someone should be able to sue a restaurant for Stella Liebeck burning herself with a beverage that by its very nature is supposed to be hot, there are several less obvious elements at play. First, McDonald’s served its coffee extremely hot—in excess of 180 degrees (your home coffeemaker will generally clock in around 140), and Liebeck suffered horrifying third degree burns right down to the bone. There are pictures available online, but I don’t suggest you look for them unless you have a strong stomach.

Second, Liebeck did not sue McDonald’s hoping to reap a fortune. Initially, the 79 year old only wanted a settlement to cover her medical expenses, which were in excess of $10,000. McDonald’s offered a mere $800.

Liebeck retained an attorney, and much legal wrangling followed. McDonald’s staunchly refused to settle despite multiple attempts to mediate the case before trial. During the court hearing, it came to light that the restaurant had fielded hundreds of complaints about burns from their coffee, and had settled many claims in the past, some for as much as $500,000. This was pretty much the kiss of death for McDonald’s; the jury awarded Stella Liebeck $2.86 million. The judge reduced the settlement, and both McDonald’s and Liebeck appealed. Before further legal proceedings occurred, both parties settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Tim Hortons is a Canadian donut chain, with some presence in the United States, and some scattered stores in the United Arab Emirates and Oman. Unlike a lot of restaurants, Tim Hortons was named for a real person—professional NHL defenseman Miles Gilbert “Tim” Horton, who played for several teams, including the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Buffalo Sabres. On February 21, 1974, Horton was driving home from a hockey game in Toronto in his De Tomaso Pantera sports car. When police attempted to pull him over, he fled, reaching speeds over 100mph. When rounding a curve, he lost control of the car and hit a concrete culvert. Horton, who was not wearing a seatbelt, was killed instantly. It was discovered that his blood alcohol level was twice the legal limit. Horton’s business partner promptly paid his widow $1 million for her shares in the restaurant chain. Today, the company’s revenue exceeds $2.5 billion.

Most would agree that their neighborhood pizzeria serves far better fare than Pizza Hut, whose formulaic, prepackaged recipes do very little to stimulate the palate. But the local joint will only deliver in a five mile radius. Pizza Hut delivered to space. In April of 2001, the company paid the Russian space program approximately a million dollars to take a pizza aboard a rocket sent to resupply the International Space Station orbiting earth. Rolled into the price was a photo op with cosmonaut Yuri Usachov, who offered a thumbs up after receiving his snack. Since it is difficult to taste things in zero gravity, the vacuum sealed salami pie they delivered was heavily spiced.

Rahm Emanuel isn’t exactly a household name, but he has maintained a distinguished career in American politics, serving in multiple advisory positions to Presidents Clinton and Obama, most notably as White House Chief of Staff. He is currently Mayor of Chicago. In high school, Emanuel worked part time at an Arby’s restaurant, a chain known for its roast beef sandwiches. One day, while operating the meat slicer, he severely cut his right middle finger. Being a teenager, he eschewed getting stitches and decided to go for a swim in Lake Michigan. Infection set in, and doctors were forced to amputate the top of his finger.

As an interesting aside, one of Rahm’s brothers is Hollywood superagent Ari Emanuel, the person on whom the character Ari Gold is based on in the show “Entourage”.

Mark Cuban is one of the world’s richest men, a dot com billionaire who owns the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks and regularly features on the NBC show “Shark Tank”, investing in startup businesses. In 2002, the outspoken Cuban lashed out at Ed Rush, the NBA’s head of officiating, claiming that he wouldn’t hire Rush to manage a Dairy Queen. He was fined half a million dollars by the NBA for his big mouth. The popular ice cream chain took offense at Cuban’s insult, inviting him to manage a Dairy Queen for a day if he thought it was so easy. He accepted, good naturedly serving cones and signing autographs at a store in Coppell, Texas. The event was a media circus, with lines over an hour long. Cuban had considerable trouble mastering the swirl of a soft serve cone, telling customers “Be patient with me, please. I’m new at this. It might not be pretty, but it works.”

Subway is the world’s largest restaurant chain—as of this writing, there are 39,517 Subways operating around the globe, in 102 countries and territories. The most exclusive location? Inside 1 World Trade Center. The restaurant sits inside a trailer-like “pod” that is lifted up level by level as the construction of the skyscraper progresses, from the ground all the way up to the planned 105th floor. The restaurant was opened to cater to union workers, who only have half hour lunch breaks, and thus couldn’t leave the premises for food, since leaving required waiting for a hoist to bring them back to ground level.

Everyone loves a hamburger or pizza every once in a while. However, enjoying fast food often involves shutting out the knowledge that the places we get it from are usually seven kinds of horrible. They can be owned by bigots, staffed by malicious teenagers (or complete maniacs), and cleaned up by almost no one. And sometimes, things get really weird.

10Chick-Fil-A Gets Homophobic

For most fast-food joints, a customer is a customer. As long as they’re not buck naked or drunk out of their minds, they are welcome to stuff their faces with greasy deliciousness. A fast-food restaurant is a neutral zone—political views or sexual orientation rarely play a part.

Unless you go to a Chick-Fil-A. These days, many view the mere act of eating there as a political statement.

In June 2012, it was revealed that the chicken sandwich chain had made significant contributions to organizations that opposed the LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender) community. The CEO of Chick-Fil-A then made a number of statements that made it obvious that he (and, by extension, his company) was very much against same-sex marriages. This caused an immediate outrage and boycott from the LGBT folks. This, in turn, caused a backlash from conservatives, who went as far as inventing a Chick-Fil-A Appreciation Day to salute the restaurant’s political stance.

The company soon stated that they would leave political conversations to politicians and later ceased all donations to anti-LGBT organizations. Yet the scandal has made its mark. To this day, few pro-LGBT people frequent the restaurant if they have any other options.

9Ajisen Ramen Soup Base Scandal

Most successful fast-food companies have a signature dish (such as McDonald’s Big Mac) or a secret sauce (such as, well, McDonald’s Secret Sauce) that is meant to set them apart from their competition. For Ajisen Ramen, a famous Chinese fast-food chain, that dish was their soup stock. Ajisen Ramen’s menu was based around noodle soup, and their secret was that the stock used for every soup came from “a broth of pork bones simmered to perfection.” That broth was their secret recipe, the entire selling point their empire rested on.

Imagine their embarrassment in 2011, when the media found that their precious soup base was made from concentrates and flavoring powders instead of actual pork bone stock. Their stock (market, not soup) plummeted and customers were revolted.

What’s worse, the company had always claimed that their soups were extremely nutritious, containing “four times the calcium content of milk and 10 times that of meat.” The test sample mentioned in the report was taken from the concentrate instead of actual soup.

Ajisen Ramen is still operational, but their reputation will probably never be the same.

8 Burger King’s Horse Burgers

When we dine in a hamburger joint, our biggest fear is that a disgruntled employee spits in our burger. However, sometimes the foreign and unwanted substances in our meal don’t need help . . . because they’re already there.

When the 2013 horse meat scandal swept through Europe, US-based fast-food companies were left relatively unscathed, save for one or two. Findus (the food company whose beef lasagna served as Patient Zero for the scandal) took the biggest blows. However, Burger King was the company that suffered the biggest embarrassment. Burger King stores in outbreak areas were quickly and aggressively declared 100 percent horse-meat-free by the company. However, despite their claims, testing soon found horse DNA in Burger King hamburger patties that were supposed to be pure beef.

What saved Burger King was their quick reaction: they immediately severed all ties with the meat company that provided the “beef” patties. Then, they gave the public a heartfelt apology and continued business as usual. Although this got them out of trouble, some people feel it was not enough. The company gave very little information to the public, and apparently offered no compensation to the numerous people whose burgers they accidentally horsed up.

7Domino’s YouTube Scandal

Sometimes, all it takes to send a company to crisis is hiring the wrong people. Domino’s Pizza learned this the hard way in 2009, when some of its employees shot a video in which one of them stuck raw ingredients in his nose, and then put them in the food they were preparing for a customer. They put the video on YouTube, where it became an instant Internet hit.

Domino’s quickly located, fired and sued the responsible parties. Other than that, the restaurant chain chose a very poor way to handle a social media crisis: they decided to shut up about the incident completely. The lack of positive media visibility (and the impact of the gross video) soon tore their carefully built brand image to pieces in a matter of days. Although the company took to Twitter and embraced social media soon afterwards, some say the damage still hasn’t quite healed.

6Pizza Hut Delivery

In 2011, a Pizza Hut delivery driver from Iowa briefly became the world’s least favorite person to handle food. When the customer he was delivering to didn’t have enough money for a tip, he decided to leave a little tip of his own and urinated on her front door.

Unfortunately for the driver (and Pizza Hut), the customer was less than pleased with the yellow pool by her front door and decided to go public. Her apartment manager provided a local news channel with surveillance footage of the incident, and it became a popular news story.

Luckily for Pizza Hut, the manager of the restaurant did all the right things. He was very cooperative from the start, actually visiting the customer and viewing the surveillance tapes. He then immediately fired the driver. Later, the driver himself (who was probably feeling very guilty and embarrassed at that point) came to apologize the customer and clean the mess he had made.

5Starbucks Coffee

In Starbucks, everything starts with water. You can’t make coffee (or any other beverage) without it, so it’s extremely important it’s clean.

At least, that’s what you’d think. A Starbucks manager in the business district of Hong Kong had a very different attitude. The water he brewed his coffee with came from a tap in a nearby bathroom.

Although the tap itself had been kept relatively clean, the fact that it had been in a dirty restroom immediately created a scandal. The entire Starbucks franchise in Hong Kong is still in turmoil. Even in many other parts of the world, Starbucks-related Google searches are beginning to turn up unsavory suggestions such as ”Starbucks Toilet Coffee Lawsuit.”

4Subway “Footlongs”

Fast food may be unhealthy. It may sometimes be prepared in unsanitary conditions. But there is one golden rule that must never be broken: there needs to be lots of it. After all, this is the industry that introduced the concept of “super-sizing” meals. At the very least, people expect their food to be as big as the restaurant advertises. A quarter-pounder with a patty that weighs any less would be a tragedy.

Still, some companies see things differently. When an Australian Subway customer decided to measure his “foot-long” sandwich, he found it was quite a lot shorter than the advertised length of one foot (30 cm). Subway Australia tried to explain this as an individual manufacturing error, before finally stating that the “Footlong” is just a name and not a measurement. This was interesting, because the company had always specifically stated the exact opposite.

Meanwhile, an American newspaper found that many stateside Subways were also quietly shrinking their subs. It wasn’t just about the length, either: they were reducing the size of their cold cuts by up to 25 percent, too.

Subway responded to the international criticism by sticking to their guns and claiming that the “Footlong” really is just a descriptive name. Then, they just stopped all communication and started hoping for the crisis to go away. How well this tactic serves them in the long run remains to be seen.

3Arby’s Finger Sandwich

In 2012, an unfortunate Michigan teenager got a taste experience he’s not going to forget in a hurry. He was enjoying a delicious roast beef sandwich at a local Arby’s when he bit into something strange and rubbery. As the boy removed the foreign object from his mouth, he found to his horror it was human flesh. A restaurant worker had accidentally sliced off part of his finger and left his station without telling anyone. The human meat had then somehow ended up in a sandwich that was served to a customer.

Although Arby’s was quick to apologize what it accurately called “an unfortunate incident,” the restaurant’s reputation took a blow.

2McDonald’s And Children

Children are the future, and the future is looking larger than ever. Childhood obesity in first-world countries is higher than it’s ever been. In the United States alone, a third of the children are obese and the situation (along with the health issues that come with it) is not getting any better.

All fast-food companies are happy to serve children, but McDonald’s in particular is a master of targeting children in its advertising. Their Happy Meal (a simple hamburger meal with a toy included) is possibly the best-known kid’s meal there is. McDonald’s is estimated to give away over 15 billion toys per year as part of their cross-promotions with popular toy lines, thus giving the children an early taste of the fast-food nation they will grow up into.

The strange thing is that McDonald’s refuses to admit they’re doing it—seemingly even to their own shareholders. Their shareholders have asked that the company take responsibility of its (presumably not insignificant) part in America’s childhood obesity problem. Yet the McDonald’s board has dismissed the issue, because associating the company with childhood obesity issues would be “unnecessary.”

To be fair, McDonald’s has made some changes to their Happy Meals to make them healthier. They now come with complimentary apple slices and a milk drink instead of a soda.

1Taco Bell

Taco Bell’s history is spotted with embarrassing events that range from slightly awkward to truly terrifying. Their taco shells have been recalled because they were made with genetically modified corn. Their meat has been revealed to be just 36 percent actual beef (the rest is tasteless fiber filler and various seasonings). The company has been linked to multiple food-borne disease outbreaks, including an E. coli outbreak that killed three people and gave 200 more customers the stomach bug of a lifetime.

With the advent of social media, it looks like the company (together with many of its competitors) is heading for even more hot water. In June 2013, a picture of a Taco Bell employee licking a stack of taco shells was posted on the company’s own Facebook page, to the disgust of loyal Taco Bell fans everywhere.

Pauli Poisuo also writes for Cracked.com. Why not follow him on Twitter?

We have something of a love-hate relationship with fast food. Many of us happily stop at a drive-through when we need something in a hurry, but we still sneer at the food and look at it with suspicion. We fear constantly eating food that was made in a commercial kitchen, and the speed with which it’s prepared implies that it was made without care. The megalith of commercialized, super-quick food production leaves many nostalgic for the good old days, when you knew exactly where your food came from and what was in it.

While eating fast food may not always be the healthiest option, and we certainly can’t guarantee the safety of our food if we don’t prepare it ourselves, many rumors of the fast food industry’s incompetence are greatly overstated.

10The Incorruptible Hamburger

People have an odd belief that mass-produced food is literally made of industrial chemicals meant more for paint stripping than eating. This has led to the even odder belief that fast food hamburgers never decay. What makes this myth particularly weird is that despite being one of the most pervasive myths about food, it is also one of the easiest to debunk. Anyone can buy a burger and watch it decompose over time, but the myth has only recently seen serious busting.

McDonald’s Canada was asked about the “incorruptible McDonald’s hamburger,” and the company decided to finally kill this silly rumor. A spokesman admitted that the company’s burgers do tend to dry out rather than rot, but that’s not because they’re laden with chemicals. The burgers simply don’t have much moisture in them after the cooking process, and leaving them in the open air removes even more. In properly moist conditions, a McDonald’s burger would rot just like any other food.

An independent study by a food blogger found that under similar conditions, McDonald’s fare rots at the same rate as homemade burgers.

9Fast Food Restaurants Are Less Healthy Than Dine-In Establishments

You’ve decided that you want to take the family out to eat, but you want to feel good about the food you’re shoveling into their starving mouths. You decide that you should go to a sit-down restaurant, since those places clearly offer much healthier options than the local McDonald’s. Unfortunately for your family, you may have made the wrong choice.

A Drexel study examined full-service restaurant menus, and the results were not at all pleasant. While a combo meal at a burger joint has more calories than you need for one meal, a full meal at a sit-down restaurant may have more than you need in an entire day.

The researchers defined a meal for an adult as an entree with a side and half of an appetizer, along with the free bread often offered. The average full meal at a sit-down place hit about 1,500 calories and went well over the daily recommended limit for saturated fat and sodium content. If you throw in a drink and half of a dessert, the average restaurant meal puts you over your daily recommended caloric intake. If you want to make sure you are getting a healthy option, you may just need to cook it yourself.

8Taco Bell’s Seasoned Beef Is Only 35 Percent Meat

A few years back, a rumor arose saying only 35 percent (or another disturbingly small percentage) of Taco Bell seasoned beef is meat, the meat is Grade D, it’s unfit for humans, and it’s somehow still allowed to be sold to massive numbers of people. The rumor’s roots go to an Alabama lawsuit, which was thrown out of court because it was complete and utter nonsense.

To address the rumors, Taco Bell explained that their seasoned beef is 88 percent beef and 12 percent filler, which may sound less than ideal, but that’s comparable to its competitors’ recipes. The website containing this explanation also gave fun explanations for some of the more obscure components, such as “Trehalose,” which they use for sweetening purposes.

Certain paranoid people will continue to fear Taco Bell’s chemical ingredients like “maltodextrin,” but actual chemists laugh off these worries—the ingredients are all very much safe and edible.

7McDonald’s Frozen Desserts Use Pig Fat And No Dairy

McDonald’s calls their frozen treats “thickshakes” or just “shakes,” rather than “milkshakes.” Some people noticing this choice concluded the drink can’t be a proper milkshake at all. In fact, it probably contains no dairy whatsoever. From there, it wasn’t long before people started coming up with theories as to what McDonald’s was using instead. People proposed all sorts of fillers, from pig fat to cow eyeball fluid to Styrofoam balls to bird feathers.

It’s true that the treats don’t use real ice cream, which is why McDonald’s doesn’t call them “milkshakes.” Instead, they use a premade mix—one that does contain dairy. Making actual ice cream shakes fresh on a massive scale day in and day out would be hard to manage logistically.

You may choose not to drink their shakes if you don’t like the taste, but for those of you who do, there isn’t anything out of the ordinary to worry about, aside from how fattening they are.

6The Salads Are A Healthy Option

Salads seem the healthiest option when eating fast food. They’re made of vegetables, after all, which surely have to be better for you than greasy burgers and fries. In reality, however, the salad option contains so much cheese, dressing, or meat that they’re as bad as anything else on the menu.

The Consumerist looked at several fast food chains and found that the salads have as many calories as other menu items. Even worse, salads often contain more fat, more sugar, and oftentimes an absolutely whopping pile of sodium. While salad may sometimes be a healthy option, when you buy it from a burger joint, it probably isn’t.

5Fast Food Is Cheap

One of the most pervasive myths about fast food, as well as junk food in general, is that it’s far less pricey than healthier alternatives. This explanation is often used by people incredulous that anyone would willingly choose junk if better food is cheaper or comparatively priced. But while fast food is certainly cheap compared with other sorts of restaurants, it’s downright expensive compared with what you prepare at home, even when you cook far higher-quality food.

NY Times food columnist Mark Bittman notes that the average McDonald’s combo meal costs about $7, adding up to $28 to feed a family of four. You could feed the family an entire chicken dinner at home for roughly half the cost, and you’ll be giving them a much healthier plate.

On the other hand, cooking food yourself does have a cost of its own. It takes time, and it takes effort. Fast food is undeniably the more convenient choice, which is why people will continue to pick it. But if you have the time and energy, eating at home is a much better option in every way.

4White Castle’s Bait-And-Switch Onions

You may not live in an area with a White Castle, but you may know of it from a certain movie where two guys try really hard to get to one. For those still unfamiliar with the chain, White Castle’s miniature burgers are famous for being incredibly cheap and, anecdotally, for giving indigestion a few hours after eating them. Fans also know the restaurant for its trademark steamed meat that always comes with onions because onions are just that important. For some reason, rumors say that White Castle is pulling a bait-and-switch with one of their most cherished ingredients.

The rumors state that White Castle onions are actually pieces of cabbage soaked in onion juice. It would seem one of the strangest and most pointless things that a fast food restaurant could do, but enough people believe the rumor that White Castle actually responds to it on their website.

Their burgers contain no cabbage and do indeed have real onions—although the restaurant admits to using rehydrated onions ever since World War II.

3Arby’s Roast Beef Is Made From A Gel

This weird rumor says Arby’s roast beef arrives at the store in a liquid gel form inside a sealed plastic bag. The congealed mixture is heated till it becomes sliceable and is then served to the poor, naive customer. Unlike some rumors, this one has understandable origins, but it’s still wholly false.

The fact-checkers at Snopes talked to several people who worked at actual Arby’s restaurants and learned the source of the confusion. The meat arrives at the store inside airtight plastic bags, with a thin layer of basting solution that looks like a gel. This could easily lead a new employee who hasn’t yet cut into the bag and roasted the beef to think they were looking at a lumpy, gelatinous mess. You may or may not find Arby’s food particularly appetizing, but rest assured that it’s actual beef.

2McDonald’s Egg Patties Come Pre-Formed

The uniform circular shape of McDonald’s Egg McMuffin patties look so perfect that people think it’s some artificial substance sent to the restaurant in readymade shapes. However, when McDonald’s in Canada was asked about this question, they responded by supplying a video of how the egg process actually works.

The eggs really are just eggs, and that perfect shape is achieved by cooking them using a ring mold, a method almost elegant in its simplicity. The scrambled eggs are slightly more questionable, as they are made with a liquid egg mix and cooked with margarine, but they still do contain actual egg.

1Darker Roasted Coffee Contains More Caffeine

One of the most common misconceptions among those who head to Starbucks or order coffee at a burger joint is that bolder, blacker coffee is stronger and gives a more intense buzz. But if you’re looking for the strongest possible caffeine hit, you should purchase a lighter roasted coffee.

Coffee beans start out green and become darker due to the roasting process. As the roasting process continues, you also end up losing more caffeine, so darker roasts have less than their lighter counterparts.

The best way to truly increase your caffeine buzz in the morning is to add a shot or two of espresso to your coffee, something that most cafes will happily do for you.

Gregory is eating fast food right now. Don’t judge him.

Fast food is such a convenience sometimes. Not only does it fill your belly but it also makes you feel happy. The crisp bite of a french fry, the delightful taste of fresh meat, and the oozing goodness of melted cheese. It’s enough to drive you crazy.

Occasionally, a customer knowingly plants something in his food to score a free meal or a cash settlement. If the fast-food chain catches on to a customer’s scam, it can have devastating consequences for the makeshift con artist.

Yet, in some instances, the customer isn’t the problem. Imagine finding a hair in your fried chicken wings. That wouldn’t be nearly as bad as finding a whole chicken head, fried to a crisp and perfectly intact.

Food contamination occurs more frequently than we’d like to believe. It can pose a health risk and seriously damage a fast-food chain’s image. Sometimes, these incidents happen due to the incompetency of the restaurant staff. Other times, the problem occurs at the fast-food chain’s manufacturing plants.

Either way, here are 10 of the most horrifying things ever discovered in fast food.

Warning: Some of these stories are gross. Don’t read while eating.

10 Condom

In Fribourg, Switzerland, a seven-year-old girl discovered what looked like a balloon in her McDonald’s Happy Meal. It was stuffed between her french fries. Being a curious little cub, she took it to her mom and asked why this “balloon” was so oddly shaped.^[1]

Naturally, her mother was horrified. She called the police, who took the “balloon” for analysis to determine whether the condom was a health risk for the child.

The McDonald’s in Switzerland declined to comment on the matter because of the ongoing investigation. Perhaps the chef was a little too happy when he made the “Happy Meal.”

9 Bandage

Although it can be upsetting to discover the wrong toppings on your pizza, Ken Wieczerza from Ballston Lake, New York, probably had it worse than most of us. He bit into a bandage (that still had blood on it) on his slice of pie.

Luckily, he noticed the texture and spat it out before he could swallow it. The bright blue piece of medical wrapping was baked into the bottom of the crust, concealing it from its unfortunate victim. He tried to sort out the matter with Pizza Hut, the company that owns the restaurant from which he bought the pizza, but company officials stopped returning his calls.

Wieczerza said that he wasn’t out to destroy the company’s name. He simply wants them to pay for tests on the blood found on the bandage to make sure it isn’t contaminated by any diseases. He kept the bandage in a freezer as evidence while he sought legal advice.^[2]

8 Maggots

A woman from Sydney, Australia, went to a McDonald’s restaurant to enjoy a Big Mac with her friend Michael. After Michael had finished his burger, she started to eat hers. She took a bite and recoiled when she noticed small wormlike creatures crawling around in the meat patty. Regrettably, she showed it to Michael, who jumped up and raced to the bathroom to vomit.^[3]

A spokesperson for McDonald’s Australia said that the maggots couldn’t have come from one of their restaurants as their food is cooked at “incredibly high temperatures.” Since the maggots could still be seen moving around in the meat patty, how did they manage to survive the intense heat of cooking?

7 Tooth

About four years ago, a customer from Japan complained after finding a human tooth in his french fries. McDonald’s has apologized for his experience. However, there are reports of other incidents that occurred at the same restaurant.^[4]

According to what the restaurant has admitted, a different customer found a piece of plastic in an ice cream sundae, while another discovered a piece of vinyl in his chicken nuggets. McDonald’s Japan said that they’d work hard to stop such incidents from happening in the future.

6 Chicken Head

Back in 2000, Katherine Ortega purchased a box of chicken wings at a McDonald’s restaurant, only to find the head of a chicken battered, fried, and fully intact. She was dishing the meal up for her children at home when she noticed one of the wings had an odd shape to it.

The story spawned countless articles in newspapers and even earned a place in The Washington Post. Although many scenarios exist as to how and why this may have happened, a few excellent points have been made.

The head of the chicken was unlikely to have ended up in the batch of raw chicken wings as the processing method removes the head of the chicken first. Another explanation could be that it was some kind of sick prank from one of the on-site employees of the McDonald’s restaurant.

USDA employees had never heard of anything like this, but they quickly added that they don’t dismiss Ortega’s claims.^[5]

5 Mouse

Customers of a Subway restaurant in Lincoln City, Oregon, may have unknowingly been eating spinach tainted by a dead rodent. The state health department said that the episode didn’t put anyone in danger of becoming sick, but it sure did make an impact on the business’s name. Health inspectors had consulted with physicians about the circumstances and concluded that the risk of becoming sick would be very low.

Matt Jones, who discovered the dead animal in his friend Jay’s sandwich, took a photo of it. His first reaction was to laugh because he was in utter disbelief about what was in front of him. His friend was obviously revolted at the sight.

According to the staff of the establishment, Jay wanted some spinach on his sandwich. The employee who prepared the food scooped the last bit of spinach out of the batch and slapped it onto the sandwich. That scoop contained the rodent. This means that everyone who ate spinach from that batch came into contact with food contaminated by a dead animal.^[6]

4 Human Skin

While eating a sandwich from the Arby’s restaurant in Tipp City, Ohio, David Scheiding discovered a slice of skin on his chicken sandwich. It was about 1.9 centimeters (0.75 in) long and looked like it had fingerprints on it. Scheiding felt sick and made a dash for the bathroom.

Miami County health inspectors had a chat with the restaurant manager. He was wearing a bandage on his right thumb, which was covered by a latex glove. He explained that he had cut his finger while shredding lettuce. He sanitized the area after the mini-bloodbath but didn’t throw away the lettuce. Scheiding’s sandwich had lettuce on it.

Scheiding filed a lawsuit against GZK Inc., the owners of that Arby’s restaurant, after rejecting a settlement offer from them. He sued the fast-food operator for more than $50,000.^[7] Although many news outlets reported the filing of the lawsuit, we couldn’t find a story about the outcome.

3 Human Blood

A woman from a Louisville KFC/Taco Bell fast-food establishment claimed that she found smears of human blood all over her order. This was after she and her one-year-old daughter dug into their meals on the way home. There was blood smeared all over the outside of the wrappers and even inside where the food came into contact with the bloody wrappers.^[8]

Briana Ralston, the unfortunate victim of this case of food contamination, called the Taco Bell to complain. She was told that the blood had come from an employee who had cut her finger. Ralston went on to contact a lawyer, the health department, and the local media to make her story known.

2 Needles

Clark Bartholomew, a retired soldier, sat down for a meal at a local Burger King on Schofield Barracks, Honolulu. He was treating himself to a Triple Stacker when he felt something strange pass down his throat. Thinking nothing of it, he kept eating, only to feel something pierce his tongue.

He had pricked his tongue with a (possibly contaminated) needle and swallowed one as well. The ingested needle managed to lodge in his small intestine.

Despite several settlement attempts by the restaurant, Bartholomew still wanted to sue Burger King. Eventually, he reached an out-of-court settlement with the fast-food chain.^[9]

1 Painkillers

In 2010, two customers each found a mysterious blue pill in the meals that they had purchased from a Burger King in Jacksonville, Florida. One was a 21-year-old woman who called the police after she spat out the blue pill. Then she went to a local fire station to get checked out, unsure of what the blue pill’s effects could be. The other customer was a 58-year-old man who discovered the blue pill in a fish sandwich he had bought.

Turns out that the blue pills were hydrocodone, a painkiller. After an intense investigation, the police learned that an employee named Woody Bernard Duclos had prepared the sandwiches. According to a supervisor, Duclos had been suspended for misconduct unrelated to the case at hand. He was arrested and pleaded guilty on two charges of poisoning food with the intent to kill or injure someone.

Another Burger King employee was arrested in connection with the case on charges of purchase or possession of a controlled substance with the intent to sell. That employee was accused of selling three hydrocodone pills to Duclos for $10.^[10]

You can follow me on Twitter @JustThatChickXD.

Artistic masterpieces, whether they are in visual, audio, or written form, often require a lengthy creative process that can take many months or even years to complete. That’s why it is so surprising to hear about a popular book being written in a matter of days, a hit song being composed in minutes, or famous paintings done in hours.

Sometimes the motivation for this accelerated creativity is tied to money, which is to be expected considering so many artists, even those who go on to become hugely successful, struggle financially prior to their breakthrough.

Here are 10 masterpieces that were churned out super fast.

Related: 10 Literary Masterpieces So Bad They’re Actually Pretty Good

10 Visage: Head of a Faun

Some professional painters have been known to create marketable work in just a couple of minutes, like the record-setting Morris Katz, who came up with a process called instant art. Using this quick-fire technique, he is said to have done 225,000 paintings.

Pablo Picasso had a reputation for being prolific as well, “estimated to have completed some 13,500 paintings in his life,” according to Artsy. In 1937 he produced his famous Guernica mural in just three weeks, and according to an oft-repeated anecdote, he once responded to a request for a portrait from a lady who approached him in a café by sketching her likeness on the back of a menu in five minutes. However, one of his most impressive quickie works is “Visage: Head of a Faun,” which he did for the 1955 documentary Le Mystère Picasso by Henri-Georges Clouzot. It was created in five minutes as the camera was rolling. The time constraint is due to Clouzot’s limited supply of film stock.

“Visage: Head of a Faun” was recently featured as part of the Picasso and Paper exhibition at the Royal Academy in London. During the few minutes Picasso spent on the drawing, he repeatedly transformed the piece, “taking it from flower to fish to chicken to face and builds up from a monochrome drawing with bright, saturated colors,” says Open Culture.^[1]

9 A Study in Scarlet

Although the majority of Sherlock Holmes tales are short stories, which were first published in magazines, the series author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, did write a few full-length novels led by the famous detective. The first of these was A Study in Scarlet, involving the discovery of a corpse at a rundown house.

Originally printed in 1887 in Beeton’s Christmas Annual, it was later published in book format. Not only did this mark Sherlock Holmes’s debut as a character in literature, but it also describes the first meeting of Holmes and Watson. Additionally, it has the distinction of being the first Holmes story to be adapted to film. While the novel is relatively short, it is still impressive that Conan Doyle was able to write it in only three weeks, especially since this was the beginning of such an enormously popular franchise, which is still going strong more than 130 years later.^[2]

8 The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde

The story of how Robert Louis Stevenson’s iconic 1886 horror novel The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was created sounds like a kind of horror story in itself, especially to anyone who has ever tried to write a book.

The author, who was suffering from tuberculosis at the time and may have been under the effect of medicinal cocaine, had been toying with the basic concept of a story about dual identity. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde idea came to him in a dream one night, which caused his wife Fanny to awaken him when she heard Stevenson screaming. He is thought to have written the original draft in three days. However, Fanny was so critical of the story that she burned it. Stevenson spent another three days rewriting the draft. Or, that’s how the story goes. It likely took him about six weeks, still a feat for such an impactful book.^[3]

7 “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)”

Singer/songwriter/producer Terius Youngdell Nash—better known as The-Dream—may have just been kidding when he announced after arriving at the recording studio one day that he was going to write a song that would be the next big single for Beyoncé. But the results were anything but laughable. A single off Beyoncé’s 2008 I Am…Sasha Fierce album, the catchy, highly danceable, ultimatum-themed song “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It),” took him 17 minutes to compose and made it all the way to No. 1 on the Billboard Charts.

Insider quoted The-Dream as saying: “Usually those songs that take the small amount of time are usually the bigger ones because you’re not thinking about it.”^[4]

6 Gismonda Poster

Compared to some of his truly speedy fellow painters, the length of time Czech artist Alphonse Mucha spent on his first Sarah Bernhardt poster, almost one week, may not seem that impressive. But in light of the work’s prominence, it is a very short time. Primarily remembered as a very popular decorative and commercial artist who often used mythical and nature themes in his work, Mucha got his big break in December 1894 by being in the right place at the right time.

Bernhardt ordered a new poster design from Parisian lithographers Lemerciers for the play Gismonda. Savvy when it came to marketing, the legendary French actress wanted something different and was in a hurry. Since most of the designers in Paris were on vacation at the time, the workshop manager was in a tight spot. He asked the young, virtually unknown Mucha, who just happened to be there working on something for a friend, if he could design the poster for Bernhardt.

“Within a week, Mucha produced a poster for her that is now considered a cornerstone of the Art Nouveau movement,” according to Marie Vítková of the National Museum in Prague. The poster of Bernhardt dressed as a Byzantine princess, set against a gold background with palm leaf, is still among Mucha’s most famous, along with such designs as Zodiac and the Sarah Bernhardt poster for La Plume.^[5]

5 “Yesterday”

As well-loved as The Beatles’ music has been for more than 50 years, some of their more simplistic bubblegum pop songs might sound as though they were dashed off in just a few minutes. Ironically, it was one of the group’s most poignant songs, “Yesterday,” which was written at lightning speed. In addition to its artistic merit, this 1965 single from the group’s Help album is so popular it holds the record for being the most covered song of all time.

According to NME, the melody for the 1965 song came to Paul McCartney in a dream and took less than a minute to write. “I have no idea how I wrote that. I just woke up one morning, and it was in my head. I didn’t believe it for about two weeks,” explained McCartney.

The lyrics took much longer, a couple of months. The song was credited to McCartney-Lennon; however, John Lennon made it clear, a few years later, that he had not co-written “Yesterday,” giving all the credit to Paul McCartney.^[6]

4 The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie

What started out as a class assignment in 1960 became the basis for what is now considered a literary classic. The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie is about an unconventional school teacher/mentor in 1930s Edinburgh. To some degree, a coming-of-age story told from the perspective of her adoring students, this short novel was written in just one month.

Author Muriel Spark explained: “We were given to write about how we spent our summer holidays, but I wrote about how [my teacher] spent her summer holidays instead. It seemed more fascinating.”

The book was later adapted to film, becoming a very memorable 1969 movie with Maggie Smith winning an Oscar for starring as the title character.^[7]

3 “Your Song”

The timeless and endearingly unpretentious 1970 Elton John classic “Your Song” didn’t take long for John to compose or for his lyricist Bernie Taupin to write. As was their habit, the two collaborators worked on it separately, but this 1970 ballad was quickly created, both musically and lyrically. Still one of the pop star’s best-loved songs, this track became John’s first hit single in America.

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Elton John remembered: “It came out in about 20 minutes, and when I was done, I called him in, and we both knew. I was 22, and he was 19, and it gave us so much confidence.”^[8]

2 The Boy in Striped Pyjamas

Even with the knowledge that author John Boyne barely took time out for food or sleep, it is still mind-boggling to imagine him writing the first draft of his highly acclaimed 2006 Holocaust novel The Boy in Striped Pyjamas in just two and a half days. The speediness of this process is an exception to how Boyne previously worked, typically taking a number of months to write a book.

It is astonishing to think that any full-length volume could be written in a couple of days but particularly a weighty and emotionally compelling story such as this. The book tells the story of an innocent nine-year-old Bruno who strikes up a friendship with another young boy Shmuel, an inmate at a concentration camp, where Bruno’s father has recently been put in charge.

The book was turned into the commercially successful but somewhat controversial 2008 film, released as The Boy in Striped Pajamas in North America, starring Asa Butterfield.^[9]

1 Rocky

Sylvester Stallone was one of many artists motivated to work fast due to money being tight. He was so broke just before writing the screenplay for Rocky, he was trying to sell his dog, which he could barely afford to feed. Stallone found inspiration in a fight he had recently seen between super-star heavyweight champ Muhammad Ali and the little-known Chuck Wepner, aka “The Bayonne Bleeder.” During the fight, Wepner actually managed to knock Ali down. Stallone said, “I thought if this isn’t a metaphor for life…” The result was his original Rocky screenplay, which was completed in just three days.

This story about underdog boxer Rocky Balboa taking his shot at the title was not only a massively successful Oscar-winning movie, but the 1976 classic launched a multi-film franchise and made Stallone a major star overnight. Obviously, much more than a sports drama, Rocky is widely considered a cinematic work of art that also turned out to be one of the most inspiring films of all time. It is almost beyond comprehension that a screenplay for a motion picture of this magnitude could be written in just a few days.^[10]

Hey—are you gonna finish… whatever that is?

Fast food misfires come in many forms. Mindless mashups, ill-conceived holiday homages and irreconcilable departures from a restaurant’s primary offerings are just a few of the ways fast food chains around the world have embarrassed themselves and disgusted their customers.

Here are ten of the most ridiculous culinary concoctions in fast food history. Bon appetit.

10 Bizarre Foreign Versions Of American Fast Food

10 The Double Down Sandwich (KFC)

This winter, mired in the third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, the people of Italy received a true treat from the US military: assistance with vaccine procurement and distribution.

Actually wait – scratch that. The American soldier was Colonel Sanders, and the gift was a triple bypass to top off that deadly respiratory disease. On February 15, 2021, the Double Down Sandwich returned to KFCs across Italy, giving our parmesan-eating brethren a taste of the American heart(attack)land.

What’s the Double Down, you ask? Well it’s pretty simple: take two fast food favorites – bacon and cheese – add something suspiciously called the “Colonel’s Sauce,” and put it all between… two gigantic slabs of Original Recipe fried chicken.

The Double Down pretty much exemplifies America’s willingness to take pride in gluttony. It caters to the growing (and growing, and growing) set of US consumers who gleefully shun sound medical advice in the name of freedom. Hell, the very name suggests that its ingestion is a gamble.

Incredibly, the Double Down is only 540 calories – about as much as a McDonald’s Big Mac. However, the devil (and the diabetes) lies in the details: 145 milligrams of cholesterol (more than twice the Big Mac), 1,380 milligrams of sodium (over half the recommended limit) and 32 grams of fat (half the day’s allowance). Per metrics site FiveThirtyEight, the result is one of the unhealthiest sandwiches ever.

9 Buffalo Latte (Tim Horton’s)

Throughout the 2010s, beloved Canadian coffee & donut chain Tom Horton’s had its sights set on expansion in the U.S. Americans familiar with the chain – generally considered higher quality than Dunkin’ but less expensive than Starbucks – welcomed Timmy H’s with open arms and wallets, and today there are over 500 locations across the US.

But in October 2017, Tim Horton’s forced a square idea into a round donut hole. To celebrate openings across Buffalo, NY – the birthplace of buffalo sauce – the company introduced an absolutely repulsive buffalo-flavored latte.

Two hypotheses exist concerning this limited-time menu monstrosity. The first posits it was simply a bad idea; that a coffeehouse which also offers a variety of breakfast sandwiches could have honored Buffalo with a buffalo-flavored sausage, egg & cheese biscuit (or, at the very least, something that wasn’t milky… definitely a gross-out line crosser).

The other theory is that Tim Horton’s never intended to sell a single cringe-inducing cup of the Buffalo Latte, but instead was engaging in a publicity stunt. While making potential customers gag isn’t typically recommended, there’s a bit of buffalo-flavored brilliance to that.

8 Kit Kat Chocoladilla (Taco Bell)

Let’s be honest: an entire list could be dedicated just to Taco Bell items. In fact, one already is.

Not surprisingly from the marketing geniuses who decided the “Fourth Meal” should be a thing, there’s a lot to digest (or indigest) here. Potential candidates for Taco Bell’s top spot include the why-is-a-taco-joint-doing-this triangular chicken chips with nacho dipping sauce, the idiotically named Beefy Potato-rito, and the entirely appropriately-named Forbidden Burrito.

But Taco Bell saved its best dietary disaster for last. Its Kit Kat Chocoladilla boldly asks the question “why not top off your fourth meal with a chocolate sandwich?” Basically, picture a large soft tortilla slathered with Nutella-esque chocolate sauce, interspersed with chocolate chips and chunks of Kit Kat bars. If you believe the officially stated calorie count of 329, I have a chocolate-covered, tortilla-wrapped bridge in Brooklyn to sell you.

Men’s Health magazine took a matter-of-fact perspective toward the Kit Kat Chocoladilla, deeming it in line with Taco Bell’s penchant for TexMex-bastardized trial and error: “it’s about time they smashed a candy bar and chocolate chips between two halves of a flour tortilla. That whole fried-chicken-as-a-taco-shell thing,” the review continues, referencing another culinary experiment, “was just a little too bland for our drunken food cravings.”

7 The Meatatarian Burger (Burger King)

This entry is ridiculous, alright: ridiculously awesome. One would imagine this meaty masterpiece resulted from enough people asking themselves: “Aren’t we sick of all this vegetarian bullshit?”… then deciding that question need not be rhetorical.

Voila! In 2016, Burger King introduced its Meatatarian Range in New Zealand. The three-burger series consisted of the sumptuously suggestive Full Meaty, the could-go-either-way Half Meaty, and the goes-with-anything Bacon Meaty. As in other walks of life, the Full Meaty stood out the most: two beef patties, a chicken patty, six bacon strips, two slices of cheese, barbecue sauce and onions. The Half Meaty removes one of the beef patties, while the Bacon Meaty replaces both beef patties with an extra layer of chicken.

True to its stature as a backlash to vegetarianism and healthy food in general, the Meatatarian Range’s calorie count was… well, impossible to find. By listing it as a “limited time only” item, BK avoided mandatory nutritional transparency guidelines.

However, in 2005 Burger King introduced the uncreatively named Enormous Omelet Sandwich, featuring a two-egg omelet topped with two slices of American cheese, three strips of bacon, and a sausage patty on a hoagie-style bun. That work of artery-clogging art came in at 730 calories and 47 grams of fat, so it can be safety assumed that the Full Meaty eclipsed that by several inche… um, calories.

6 The Greek Mac (McDonald’s)

Per the McDonald’s website, the Greek Mac is: “A Greek classic! Two juicy beef patty’s with lemon sauce, onions, lettuce, sliced tomato’s wrapped together in a pita bread, with tzatziki [yogurt] sauce.”

Setting aside that a multi-billion-dollar international corporation can afford a copywriter who knows the plural of “patty” is “patties,” and the plural of “tomato” is “tomatoes,” the oddest thing about this entry is that the Big Greek is only available in Greece and neighboring Cyprus. Which is akin to a burger joint limiting a new pizza item to Italy.

With an internationally accepted ethnic food (like a gyro) limiting availability to the places with the BEST gyros (like Greece and Cyprus) makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. People will accept a meh McDonald’s gyro far more readily in Athens, Georgia than Athens, Greece.

Even non-Greek reviewers noticed. Per UK-based BurgerLad: “The tzatziki just wasn’t to scratch compared to what I’ve been eating throughout the rest of my holiday – it was missing the lemon, the garlic and more cucumber, along with the richness from olive oil.”

It then addresses the item’s misguided target market: “I would be more than happy if the UK had this instead of the Big Tasty,” referencing a UK-centric item.

5 Most American Thickburger (Carl’s Jr./Hardee’s)

Because ‘Murica, that’s why. From the country that brought you cancel culture, rampant gun violence and an impressive 42% obesity rate comes the most patriotic patties ever placed between two buns.

In 2015, sister chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s launched the Most American Thickburger, a salute to classic, clog-inducing American cuisine. The greasy cheeseburger was sandwiched between a hot dog and a layer of Lays potato chips, along with pickles, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mustard. As another nice touch, it actually sort of looked like the average American.

Like a Western movie hero daring the bad guy to make his move, the Most American Thickburger dared its largely under-exercised and under-insured audience to pledge alliance to flame-broiled flavor. The half-pound version clocked in at 1,190 calories, 29 grams of saturated fat, and a whopping 3,170 milligrams of sodium.

Apparently the Most American Thickburger wasn’t just heavy but top heavy. A review on BrandEating.com complained that “the chips and pickles were situated on the very bottom and formed an uneven base for the lettuce and tomatoes (wet ingredients that slid to and fro atop the chips). On top of this Jenga-like Slip & Slide were the heavier beef patty and split hot dog.” Ultimately, its advice to consumers was to “eat this burger upside down and hope for the best.”

4 Chizza (KFC)

Replacing something typically bread-based with something other than bread? Sounds like a job for KFC (see items #10 and #1 on this list).

Generously described by The Independent as a “low-calorie, high-protein” pizza, the Chizza is among the most creatively named, albeit least appetizing, of KFC’s bread-substituting bonanzas. It’s pretty much exactly what it sounds like: fried chicken covered with mozzarella cheese and tomato sauce, shaped (sort of) like a pizza. It’s basically a chicken parmesan if Italian cuisine was misguidedly entrusted to a cracker from Kentucky.

No bread? No problem for those sprinting toward a diabetic death. The Chizza contains nearly 700 calories and 38 grams of fat. And that’s before customers top if off with their choice of ham, pineapple or extra sauce. The Colonel likes Hawaiian pizza – who knew?

The simplistic recipe sent people with way too much time on their hands into a fervor, with Tweets including “The KFC Chizza is literally a piece of chicken meat & toppings DONT [sic] BE FOOLED.” The Chizza was initially introduced as a “limited time only” option at KFC locations in Singapore. It then expanded to India and finally Saudi Arabia, where it enjoyed more rights than women.

3 Mush ‘N Cheese, Berry Burger and Angry Whopper (Burger King)

This combo entry’s main point: Burger King is officially out of ideas.

In late 2014, Burger King Japan made two highly suspect decisions. First, it decided that “Berry Kristmush” was an acceptable marketing campaign slogan. Second, it decided that the lure of said promotion would be two of the oddest offerings in burger history.

First, the Berry Burger. It’s a hamburger that, per Eater, has “mixed berry sauce and what appears to be five carefully placed blueberries. Nothing screams “happy holidays” like warm, beefy fruit.” Indeed.

The Berry Burger’s Christmastime compadre was the Mush ‘N Cheese Burger, which is a cheeseburger with mushrooms on it. Otherwise known as a cheeseburger with a fairly common topping, renamed something completely revolting. Nice job guys.

Need another way to mask the inferior-even-for-fast-food flavor of your burgers? I know – hot sauce! Meet Burger King’s Angriest Whopper. Billed as a spicy spin on the BK classic, the burger featured jalapeno peppers, red buns with hot sauce baked into them, and the sexual-assault-sounding spicy angry sauce.

Unfortunately, Burger King couldn’t even do THAT right: Per FastFoodMenuPrices.com: “The word ‘angry’ is meant to give the impression of a spicy hot burger that will rile your taste buds … but the Angry sauce is more zesty… and the jalapeños are canned slices….Both left A LOT of spice to be desired.”

2 Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza (Pizza Hut)

One of the ever-decreasing reasons I’m proud to be an American is that this culinary clusterf*ck was an Aussie thing.

On the heels of Taco Bell’s well-received Doritos Locos Taco – a taco whose tortilla shell is made from snack food’s signature cheesy corn chip – Pizza Hut Australia decided “why not us?” Despite several satisfying answers to that seemingly rhetorical question coming immediately to mind (for starters, “Because mozzarella and nacho cheeses don’t go together, EVER”), in 2014 the Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza debuted in restaurants across the country.

An Italian-Mexican mashup proudly insulting both of these eclectic cuisines, the Doritos Crunchy Crust Pizza features a mozzarella cheese-stuffed crust layered with nacho cheese Doritos chips and cheddar cheese. The Doritos layer is far more than a few crumbs, but rather full chips atop one another for the experience of stuffing one’s face with both multiple Doritos AND the bread and cheese upon which they’re stacked.

“Why Doritos? Well it is a globally loved brand and they have the best corn chips to deliver the ultimate crunch,” Pizza Hut Australia Head of Marketing & Innovation (and possible forced-confession hostage) Fatima Syed said in a press release. “We know from research how big an impact the crunch sound has on one’s appetite,” she continued, in a sentence somehow more ridiculous than her first one.

1 Doughnut Fried Chicken Sandwich (KFC)

Between this, the Chizza and the Double Down, it’s apparent that KFC either a) really likes putting things between other things that aren’t bread, or b) simply ran out of bread.

Colonel Sanders has the unenviable distinction of being the only chap with three entries on this list. Impressively, this item earned a spot with just three ingredients: (1) donut, (2) chicken, and (3) second donut.

Introduced in 2019, KFC’s Doughnut Fried Chicken Sandwich solved the cumbersome need to use utensils while scarfing down 1,000 calories’ worth of chicken and waffles. Replace the waffles with donuts and the maple syrup with glazed sugar. Done, done and delicious.

And deadly. The Doughnut Fried Chicken Sandwich packs a whopping 1100 calories – more than half the recommended daily allowance. A heart-stopping 585 of those calories are from fat. Over 1,300 milligrams of sodium, 50 milligrams of cholesterol and a stunningly saccharine 40 grams of sugar – more than an adult male’s entire recommended daily intake – will keep cardiologists and insulin manufacturers well-employed and wealthy.

Top 10 Failed Fast Food Ideas

For better or worse, Americans tend to think of themselves as the biggest junk-food consumers in the world. While one glance down your average American main street makes it hard to argue against that idea, it turns out most of the world is just as dedicated to their mass-produced artery-cloggers as we are. And all of the big chains know it.

To cater to this giant, multicultural market, fast food chains have concocted all sorts of menu items meant to hybridize styles, pioneer tastes, and just plain pander to locals and their desire to try something new. Let’s explore ten of the weirdest menu items from American fast-food chains in other countries.

Related: 10 Weirdest Street Foods In The World

10The Nutella Burger

If you’re like most human beings, your immediate reaction to hearing the phrase ‘Nutella burger’ is to gag or maybe questions its existence. The thought of sweet chocolate hazelnut goo spread atop a savory beef patty is not most people’s favorite. Don’t worry, though, because McDonald’s Nutella burger is actually just Nutella spread between two buns, and it’s delicious.

The treat is called a “Sweety con Nutella,” or loving called, Sweety, and is available at McCafe’s in Italy, the birthplace of Nutella. Though not exactly a health nut’s dream, the snack has proven to be quite popular, just like Nutella itself. Since its launch in 2016, Sweety’s has been a steady fan-favorite. Unlike so many McDonald’s creations through the years, it is likely to stay on the menu for a long time.

9 Italian Cheese Bricks

Speaking of McDonald’s in Italy, their sides are just as foreign as their desserts. For many Americans, McDonald’s fries are their best feature. The chain manages to hit the right balance of crispiness and saltiness with their fries. Yummy. Yet, for many Italians, those perfect McDonald’s fries can’t compete with a brick of Parmesan cheese.

Known as the “Snack al Parmigiano,” the side is a standard substitute for fries in Italy if the customer opts for it. The cheese is pure Parmigiano Reggiano, and blends both tastiness and relative healthiness. Best of all? McDonald’s Italiano has affectionately dubbed it “The Pocket Cheese.”

8 The Chizza

Our first of many trips to the cosmopolitan food mecca that is Asia is to Singapore (and Saudi Arabia, of all places). There, Kentucky Fried Chicken has a menu item known only as the “Chizza.” As you can probably guess, the Chizza is a chicken pizza.

Completely inverting the pizza-topping paradigm in the states, the Chizza uses a wide, flat piece of fried chicken as its ‘crust’ and adds toppings from there, like mozzarella and marinara. While this could easily be viewed as just an odd cousin to chicken parmesan, the most common toppings on the Chizza are pineapple chunks and ham, making it more akin to a Hawaiian-Singaporean-Italian Frankenstein. And likely a delicious one.

7 The Inception of Pizzas

Staying in Singapore, the country continues its well-known reputation for extravagance at their Pizza Huts, wherein customers can order the “Double Sensation Pizza.” As its name suggests, the Double Sensation is a pizza inside a pizza. How this was not an American invention is anyone’s guess.

At the outermost edge, the Double Sensation Pizza has a stuffed crust with multiple kinds of cheese oozing out of holes on the sides. Continuing inward, the pie is topped like a typical supreme pizza, though halfway through the slices, it reveals its namesake. Each slice is cut in half by another crust, again stuffed, but this time with cheese and sausage. Then the pie continues inward with more supreme toppings until it reaches the center, where it is garnished with a red, stemmed cherry. With the topping in place, the Double Sensation Pizza is ready to be devoured like a delicious pizza sundae!

6 Pork and Seaweed Donuts

A quick flight north takes us to China, where Dunkin’ Donuts has a particularly strange donut offering. The dried pork and seaweed donuts are exactly as described; they’re topped with crumbles of dried seaweed and pork floss, probably the last two ingredients an American would expect on their donut.

The donut base itself is also different than what Americans may expect. The dried pork and seaweed donuts are yeast donuts being made with less sugar. That makes the whole snack a savory meal instead of a sugary dessert. Considering how we treated the potential combination of Nutella and beef, this all-savory donut, essentially just a circular bao, makes a lot of sense.

5 Pumpkin Spice Fries

Next, we land in Japan, where in 2016, McDonald’s concocted the “Halloween Choco Potato,” a tray of fries drizzled with chocolate and pumpkin sauces. The Halloween Choco Potato fries were released in October and were meant to honor the spooky season, both in taste and appearance. Surprisingly, the majority of reviews have been positive.

Customers loved the salty-sweet combo enough that the treat reappeared for multiple Halloweens. It’s no surprise that chocolate fries without the pumpkin sauce are a regular at McDonald’s Japan all year-round. Apparently, the secret is that the salt is toned down just enough to accent the sugar instead of combating it. Now, these are a treat I may need to try!

4 All-Black Burgers

Japanese fast food is also famous, or perhaps infamous, for the black-bun burgers available at their Burger Kings, named “Kuro Burgers.” Kuro literally means “black” in Japanese, and though not an imaginative title, it is an accurate one.

The buns are charred black and further blackened by the addition of squid ink. On top of that, the cheese slices are made with bamboo charcoal and also come out jet black. If that wasn’t enough, the sauce and beef patty are also blackened, leaving only the optional lettuce, tomato, and onion, the only ingredients not entirely Kuro. The trend caught on in the area, and soon McDonald’s Hong Kong introduced their own ink-black burgers and ‘competing’ all-white burgers.

3 The Kit-Kat Quesadilla

Across the globe, Taco Bell has put dozens of different spins on its quesadillas. Taco Bell South Korea has kimchi quesadillas. Taco Bell Philippines has Cheetos quesadillas. Taco Bell Finland apparently puts BBQ pork in everything, including their quesadilla. All of those sound delicious. But possibly the single weirdest is Taco Bell’s “Kit Kat Chocodilla,” which made its debut in the UK.

The decadent, delicious abomination is made by melting whole Kit Kat bars and chocolate chips between Taco Bell’s traditional flour tortillas. It’s hard to argue with the simple combination of chocolate and carbs, especially with some remnant of that signature Kit Kat crunch remaining. After trying one, no one would even consider an argument against the gooey treat. Taco Bell has recently made the Kit Kat Chocodilla stateside, starting exclusively in the Midwest. They have even branched out into new flavors like the equally-amazing “Twix Chocodilla.”

2 The Tabasco Sundae

Coming off an item we can tell you firsthand is delicious; we arrive at an item we hope no one ever has to encounter in any form. Stateside, McDonald’s sundaes come in three traditional flavors: chocolate, caramel, and strawberry; you can’t go wrong! However, McDonald’s Hong Kong decided in 2017 to try out a brand new variety: the “Tabasco Fudge Sundae.”

The Tabasco Fudge Sundae dessert was launched as part of a larger collaboration with Tabasco. It was meant to serve as a companion to a Tabasco-laden burger and similarly-spiced fries. The Tabasco Fudge Sundae ended up stealing the show among the spicy lineup, though, and it’s no wonder why. The Tabasco sauce is not added to the shake as a topping, like you might expect, but rather blended into the vanilla ice cream, making the entire affair unsettlingly spicy. 

1 The Windows 7 Whopper

You read that right. Topping off our list is the “Windows 7 Whopper” from Burger King Japan. When Microsoft launched an operating system in 2009, it collaborated with Burger Kings in Japan to sell special Whoppers with seven patties. The promotion only lasted one week in October, but its legacy has endured ever since.

Just looking at the Windows 7 Whopper burger, its structural flaws are apparent. The two decidedly average-sized buns were not meant to contain seven whole patties between them, in addition to any cheese, veggies, and condiments the customer desired. There are a few hilarious reviews of the sandwich worth reading, and almost all of them share a few central themes.

The Windows 7 Whopper burger was almost impossible to hold together. It was also almost impossible to bite into evenly. The combined juices from the seven patties inevitably soaked the buns until they were a soggy mess. Probably the worst part of all is that by default, the burger comes with no cheese and only enough veggies for the topmost patty. As a Gizmodo reviewer so eloquently put it: “How does it taste? How do you think it tastes? It’s seven pieces of Burger King meat…This is meat followed by meat, washed down by meat.”

There is nothing like some tasty fast food. For many of us, it’s convenient, affordable, and delicious. But getting caught in the same routine of ordering your “usual” from your favorite fast food joint is easy. Why not try a menu hack the next time you have a craving?

Menu hacks allow people to order (or at least request) special items from the restaurant. Sometimes these are items that have been discontinued. Other items were created by creative kitchen cooks or a simple combination of two (or more) normal menu items.

So, let’s get creative and try something new! Below, we’ll review ten menu hacks from your favorite fast food joints. From special sandwiches to fries, custom drinks, and desserts, this has all the fast food favorites you never knew you wanted!

10 Wendy’s Meat Cube/Grand Slam Burger

Our first menu hack comes from Wendy’s. Wendy’s offers a wide variety of hamburgers on their menu; however, they have another secret, special burger that you can order. This burger has three names, so make sure to order it carefully. It is sometimes called the Meat Cube, Dave’s Hot ‘n Juicy 1-lb Quadruple, or the Grand Slam Burger.

So what is it? The Meat Cube consists of four quarter-pound hamburger patties totaling a pound of ground beef. The patties are served on a traditional Wendy’s bun, complete with all of the typical toppings, including cheese. To order it, try asking for it by name. Explain what you need if the employee does not know what you are talking about. It is basically a 3/4 pound burger, with an extra patty and slice of cheese added.

9 McDonald’s Apple Pie McFlurry

Next, we’ll look at an unusual combination of two classic treats. McDonald’s is often the first restaurant people think of when they think of fast food. Because of this, McDonald’s also has a fairly extensive menu, complete with various burgers, chicken, fish, and sides. They also have some fairly iconic desserts. For our next menu hack, let’s combine two of their famous desserts that you may not have thought would complement each other.

The Apple Pie McFlurry is just what it sounds like. It combines a full apple pie blended with an original McFlurry treat. You may want to eat it quickly before it gets melty and congealed. But when enjoyed fresh, it’s hard to beat the combination of apple pie and ice cream.

So, if you are looking for a sweet treat that is both cold and hot, what is more American than an apple pie McFlurry from McDonald’s? You can also try blending other kinds of pie, but the Apple Pie McFlurry is by far the most popular.

8 In-N-Out Animal-Style Fries and Burger

In-N-Out is known for having delicious burgers and fries. Many consider their burgers to be some of the best fast food burgers in the country. However, some fast food connoisseurs want to take it up a notch. In order to do that, fast food aficionados should order their fries “animal style.”

Animal-style fries are the most popular menu hack for In-N-Out and maybe the most well-known on our list. In order to be “animal style,” the fries are covered with:

• Melted cheese
• In-N-Out spread
• Grilled onions

These fries are basically a meal all on their own. You can also order an animal-style burger, which includes the same ingredients piled on a burger. Of all the items on this list, these are almost guaranteed to be available, so you definitely won’t get any weird looks from the cashier.

7 McDonald’s Land, Sea, and Air Burger

Our next menu hack comes from the king of fast food, McDonald’s. This one is… a bit of an acquired taste. Have you ever wanted the best of both worlds? What about the best of three worlds? Well, that is the idea with this Frankenstein of a sandwich.

The Land, Sea, and Air Burger combine three of McDonald’s best-known sandwiches. The land element of the sandwich is a Big Mac (or a McDouble). Next, the sea is represented by a Filet-O-Fish sandwich. Lastly, the air is represented by a McChicken patty… for some reason. (They do know chickens can’t really fly, right?)

You build your sandwich by adding the fish and chicken patties into the middle of your Big Mac. Open wide, and taste a little bit of everything with this monstrous sandwich. While employees may be aware of the Land, Sea, and Air Burger, it is probably a better choice for you to build your own using the three sandwiches. Just be sure to have a drink ready to wash it all down.

6 Burger King Frings

Hacks don’t necessarily have to be complicated. The next item came about simply because someone asked. Burger King is known for having delicious French fries; however, they are known for their onion rings as well (perhaps because most fast food restaurants don’t have onion rings). This leaves customers in a conundrum when choosing their combos.

Get the fries? Get the onion rings? Get both? Getting both is the way to go! You can simply order half fries and half onion rings by asking. At some restaurants, this is referred to as frings, but at others, ordering frings may leave your cashier confused.

To keep it simple, just ask for half and half, and enjoy your two favorite fried sides simultaneously. Be sure to try dipping the French fries in the zesty onion ring sauce as well. You may never have to choose between fries and onion rings again.

5 Starbucks Dirty Chai

If you’re at Starbucks, you are likely looking for a jolt of caffeine to get you through your day or night! So, why not try something different besides a simple drip coffee? Chai is a popular drink that is smooth, delicious, and easy to drink. However, it doesn’t pack the punch of a typical coffee drink. So, hack the menu and get everything you want!

Order a Dirty Chai from Starbucks by simply adding an Espresso shot into a traditional Chai Latte. A Chai Latte is already on the menu, but just adding a single shot of Espresso can take your caffeine game to the next level. Or, for those days when you are really dragging, why not add a second Espresso shot? Not only will a Dirty Chai give you the rush of energy you need, but it’s also packed with nutrients and all kinds of health benefits.

4 Arby’s Bacon, Beef, and Cheddar

Arby’s has the meats. We all know it. Now, the issue is, which meat do you choose?

Arby’s has several sandwich options, from Market Fresh sandwiches to classic Roast Beef. However, one of their classics, which they are best known for, is a simple Beef ‘n Cheddar Sandwich. This sandwich comes with thinly sliced roast beef, cheddar cheese sauce, and Arby’s sauce, all on a soft onion bun.

This is the favorite of many Arby’s fans, including yours truly. Take yours to the next level by adding bacon! Adding bacon to this already delicious sandwich adds a depth of flavor and texture, making what seemed like a perfect sandwich even better.

Arby’s employees will be happy to prepare this sandwich for you; just ask for a Beef ‘n Cheddar with bacon. You won’t regret it!

3 Chick-Fil-A Root Beer Float

Chick-Fil-A is the favorite fast food joint of many connoisseurs. They have a somewhat limited menu, based largely around fried chicken. However, because of this, just about everything on their menu is delicious. One of the best menu hacks from Chick-Fil-A is a simple root beer float. This involves asking for a scoop (or more) of their delicious Ice Dream treat to be added to Root Beer.

Be sure not to include any ice! The Chick-Fil-A root beer float is a dream come true (pun intended) because of their creamy, delicious Ice Dream. They didn’t invent the root beer float, but they may have perfected it. The friendly employees at Chick-Fil-A will be happy to help you with this menu hack.

2 Taco Bell Cheesarito

Taco Bell is known for making up food items. Crunchwrap? Cheesy Gordita Crunch? Mexican Pizza? Quesarita? These are just some of the many different food items that Taco Bell has produced over the years. They are creative and constantly develop new things for their fans to try. They even invented a new meal. Fourth meal, anyone? Because of this, their employees are often familiar with creating exciting inventions out of their typical ingredients. The Cheesarito is one such item.

It has an incredible name but is a pretty straightforward snack, at least by Taco Bell standards. The Cheesarito is a value menu item, too, making it one of the cheapest on our list. It is made with melted cheese, scallions, and Taco Bell sauce, all wrapped in a tortilla. Great for a small snack or as an additional treat to go along with your tacos. The Cheesarito may just be your new favorite fast food menu item.

1 Starbucks Cinnamon Roll Frappe

Another decadent drink from Starbucks rounds out our list. Starbucks has many, many drink options. But the one they don’t tell you about or put on the menu is the Cinnamon Roll Frappuccino. Like it sounds, this drink was created to imitate the taste of a fresh cinnamon roll (Cinnabon, anyone?). Creating this menu hack may take some careful explaining to your barista.

First, request a vanilla bean crème Frappuccino. Then, request two (or three, depending on taste) pumps of Starbucks’ Cinnamon Dolce Syrup. This will result in a delicious cinnamon roll drink that will make you feel like you are back in a mall food court. Most Starbucks should be able to prepare this drink as long as they have the Cinnamon Dolce Syrup available.

Starbucks has many menu hacks available, and you can make all sorts of custom drinks, from a Cake Batter Frappuccino to Candy Cane or Butterbeer. If they don’t, why not create your own new menu hack? It may be the next big thing.

Are you a James Bond fan? If so, we’re not surprised. There’s something simply cool and fun about a Bond movie. Not only does he save the day (and usually the entire world… secretly, of course!) but he also gets a great car, gadgets, and a beautiful woman.

While you may have stood in line for the latest Bond movie, we doubt you know everything about them. Here are some facts that even some of the most enthusiastic “007” followers may not know…

10. You have one very dedicated family to thank for the franchise

Obviously, a lot of people have been involved in the making of the Bond films over the years. But there’s one family in particular that’s been the driving force behind keeping them going for decades.

The Broccoli family has produced James Bond movies since 1975. These movies are truly a family affair – with Albert R. Broccoli who produced until 1984 when his stepson Michael G. Wilson came on board. Then in 1995, Broccoli let his daughter Barbara Broccoli take over production of the James Bond franchise. So now two generations of the Broccoli family has managed the Bond films, bringing us hours of fantastic entertainment.

9. Ian Fleming didn’t get rich on the first movie

The Bond franchise is a bit of a cash cow, clearly. That’s why they keep churning new ones out, right? But author Ian Fleming didn’t exactly rake in the dough on his first movie adaptation. Not even close, actually. But then, the first movie wasn’t exactly a blockbuster.

In 1954, CBS paid Fleming $1,000 to obtain the rights to turn his first Bond novel, Casino Royale, into a one-hour show. This was part of the series named Climax Mystery Theater. The show featured Barry Nelson as James Bond and Peter Lorre as villain Le Chiffre and was shown to TV audiences on October 21, 1954.

8. The biggest box office hit it in the franchise might not be what you think

If we asked you what the biggest smash hit (financially) in the Bond franchise is, you might immediately think of the Daniel Craig version of Casino Royale, or maybe even Goldeneye. But it’s not either of those, in fact. Casino Royale actually only ranks fourth on the list, and Goldeneye is a distant eighth.

The top earner? It’s Skyfall, which was released on November 8, 2012. The domestic box office in the USA was $304,360,277. That’s more than a hundred million more than the second highest grosser, Spectre. The international box office was truly phenomenal – more than $1 billion, at $1,110,526,981! The Bond movies have been super successful overall and have grossed $7 billion, with their international box office totals.

7. Enjoy Daniel Craig as Bond… while you can

Daniel Craig wasn’t the obvious choice when he got cast as Bond prior to Casino Royale. He didn’t have the same suave, dark-haired look of a Roger Moore or Pierce Brosnan, so naturally some fans were skeptical. And then, of course, people saw him in the film and almost immediately, the debate opened up about whether he was a better Bond than Sean Connery.

However, you probably won’t be seeing him in the role much longer. The next James Bond film will be released on November 8, 2019. This is the final film, currently dubbed ‘Bond 25’, that Craig has been contracted for with them. Craig has been working on a TV show and originally was reluctant to do one last Bond movie, but it is great that he didn’t want to disappoint his enthusiastic fans.

6. That 2019 Bond film is still a total mystery

While it’s certainly great that Daniel Craig is returning to the role (at least) one last time, that’s about all we know about the film at this point. Most of the time, production companies share a plot synopsis or a few details. This time, it simply says “unknown.” This Bond movie has not been without a few bumps, though. Pregnancy bumps, that is. Production was pushed back due to Craig wanting to help his pregnant wife, Oscar winner Rachel Weisz.

Just last year they were searching hard to find a great director, and that is one piece of info that we do have. The newest Bond will be helmed by acclaimed director Danny Boyle, who was the man behind films like Trainspotting, 28 Days Later, and Slumdog Millionaire, and has won an Oscar. For now, we will simply have to be patient and wait.

5. Sometimes Bond’s gadgets have given us a window into the future

Many of Bond’s gadgets are pure entertainment and just add to the adventure. But a few of them seem as if they are a peek into what will be available to the rest of us one day.

The 1985 movie A View to A Kill featured a Ring Camera. Today, tiny cameras can be placed just about anywhere. But in the 1980s, the thought of that technology, being that tiny, was simply unheard of. In that same movie, there was a cute Robot Dog. Now, admittedly it did not quite look like Fido but it certainly was cute. Today you can buy all types of adorable little robot pets including cats and dogs.

In the 2008 movie Quantum of Solace, there was a Multitouch Table, similar to using a large tablet. It’s the size of a table that about 6 people can use. Now you’ll see large screens that people can move documents around with the touch of a finger – why, it’s so Bond-like!

4. Sean Connery wasn’t very “007” when it came to playing Bond

Some of the actors who played James Bond have done plenty of their own stunts. They certainly could not have done all of them, of course, for insurance reasons. One of the actors who refused to do any type of stunt at all, though, might surprise you (well, unless you read the header): Sean Connery.

As his fellow Bond, George Lazenby, noted, “Sean Connery wouldn’t step down a step without saying ‘stunt man!’” Now, let’s be fair. Some of those Bond stunts are a bit daunting. It’s easy for us to make a quick judgement from our comfy, plush movie seats while munching on buttery popcorn. Then again, you’d think the dashing guy who played Bond (and was also a Mr. Universe competitor!) would at least be up for racing a car, skiing down a hill or a few small adventures!

3. The first big-screen Bond was a real player… and not just on-screen

You may not know who George Lazenby is, but he’s the guy who briefly played Bond in exactly one movie: On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And while he didn’t play Bond for long, he sure lived the James Bond lifestyle. He estimates that he was intimate with more than 1,000 women and during the peak of his fame he seduced an average of 5 women each day. He credits his luck with the ladies to being “a good looking Australian” and also having the confidence to approach them.

We think Lazenby was chock-filled with confidence in lots of ways. It might surprise you to know that he got the role of James Bond with absolutely zero professional acting experience! Can you imagine someone getting the lead role in a blockbuster movie like that today?

2. Can you spot the 1963 Aston Martin DB5?

Everyone knows that part of the fun of watching Bond movies is not just the adventure, but also the cars and cool gadgets that Bond has. It might surprise you to know that one Aston Martin car has popped up in six James Bond movies, making it quite unique. Typically a car or gadget appears only once. Even more amazing is the fact that its appearances have spanned decades.

The 1963 Aston Martin DB5 you’ll first see in Goldfinger (1964) and then in Thunderball (1965). It also reappeared more recently in Goldeneye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), Casino Royale (2006), and then the super popular Skyfall (2012). So, it is easy to say that the Aston Martin is James Bond’s car. While he may drive others, this is one of his all-time favorites!

1. So… who will be the next Bond?

Many fans are hoping Daniel Craig will stay on in the role of James Bond, and it has been rumored he has been offered $150 million for another two films. But eventually, he’s going to hang up the Walther PPK, and someone else will need to step into the role. So, who could it be?

Names that have been included in entertainment magazines, on social media, and throughout internet message boards include actors like Idris Elba, Damian Lewis, Aidan Turner, Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hardy, or Jamie Bell. For now, we’re just going to have to continue to speculate and see who slides into the black tux and orders his martini… shaken, not stirred.

Are you a James Bond fan? If so, we’re not surprised. There’s something simply cool and fun about a Bond movie. Not only does he save the day (and usually the entire world… secretly, of course!) but he also gets a great car, gadgets, and a beautiful woman. And with the latest news about the franchise, it feels like a good time to revisit everyone’s favorite secret agent.

While you may have stood in line for the latest Bond movie, we doubt you know everything about them. Here are some facts that even some of the most enthusiastic “007” followers may not know…

Read the full list!