A Five Below customer is raising red flags on TikTok over the discount chain’s snacks after finding something disgusting in the Combos pretzel bag she and her boyfriend purchased there.
Amy (@kristinethakween) posted a video on the social media site about what happened when she and her boyfriend went to Five Below in the Seminole Mall located in Largo, Florida before catching Longlegs at the movie theater.
Finding something disgusting in a bag of Combos
“This video is for Five Below and for anyone that likes to get snacks at Five Below because they committed a serious health violation last night,” Amy starts the video.
Amy explains that she and her boyfriend were going to see the opening of the highly anticipated horror movie Longlegs. They stopped by the Five Below across the street to get some snacks because they had gotten to the theater early.
“That’s what we always do,” she says.
They picked out birthday cake Cookie Dough Bites and Lindt’s Lindor chocolates. But when Amy tried a few of the Cookie Dough Bites, she says they “tasted like straight-up Play-Doh.”
Her boyfriend went back inside to return the original snacks. He walked out with Combo pretzel bites and a Slim Jim. After his first few bites of the pretzels, he spit them out, saying they didn’t taste right.
He then dumped the entire bag outside of the car and after looking down, immediately puked.
Laying in front of him were dead roaches mixed in with the pretzel bites, Amy recalls.
“He’s downing my water because he cannot get the taste of his mouth of dead roach,” Amy says. “I’m like, ‘Alright, we need to go back inside and complain,’ because I was livid. That’s serious food poisoning right there.”
Bringing the issue to Five Below’s attention
Amy’s boyfriend put the dead roaches back in the bag to show them to a Five Below manager. After checking the store’s inventory, manager found other Combos bags with holes in the back. Amy says the roaches chewed through the bags and then died inside.
Five Below gave the duo a refund, and Amy’s boyfriend contacted HR. They asked if he needed medical assistance, which he said he didn’t need.
Concluding the video, Amy cautions anyone who lives in the Largo, Florida area to check the bags and dump out the food as a precaution.
Despite Amy and her boyfriend’s experience, the Five Below in Largo, Florida has a rating of 4.5/5 on Google reviews. Several of the reviewers speak highly of the store’s staff and cleanliness.
The response on TikTok
Amy’s video garnered over one million views. But several users were skeptical of the story, because the TikToker didn’t share photos of the Combos.
One user commented, “girl this math ain’t mathing…”
Another said, “I’ve never in life heard of a roach chewing thru a semi-plastic bag.”
A further user commented, “Did he not notice the bag was chewed open??”
One viewer was critical of them returning snacks in the first place. “Who returns snacks at first because he doesn’t like them?” they wrote.
Other users were startled by what was found. “Roaches chew through bags????” one user commented.
According to a blog post from Arrow Exterminating Company, roaches can chew through thin plastic materials.
@kristinethakween Im still completely disgusted by this. Cant imagine eating dead roach air 🥴 @Five Below ♬ original sound – Amy
Some viewers were unsurprised by Amy’s experience.
“Five Below, Marshall’s, Ross, Gabes.. Etc, NEVER buy anything edible there. Probably shouldn’t buy anything at all,” one commented.
Another commented about their experience. “My friend ate those nutella breadsticks she got from 5 below, turns out they sold her ones that expired over a year ago, she got serious food poisoning do not trust 5 below snacks.”
Five Below’s response to Amy
Amy made a follow-up video with some updates, including that Five Below sent her boyfriend a $25 gift card as compensation for the situation. She also responded to the comments saying the story is untrue.
Considering that the bag of pretzels were covered in puke, Amy says she didn’t want to take a photo of it.
She also responded to the comments that the issue was Combos’ fault, not Five Below’s. She responded by saying that because it had already left Combos’ warehouse, it was not their responsibility. She claims the pretzels became contaminated while sitting in Five Below’s warehouse.
Combos reached out to her boyfriend, apologizing for the situation. Amy says the health department reached out to him as well, with intent to send an inspector to that particular Five Below location.
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