KFC claims that it served her sick mother their very own Bushtucker Trial. Her daughter found a 1.5-inch dead caterpillar in her corn.
Bromley’s Keeley Trundley (21), ordered food from the fast-food giant to celebrate her 18th birthday. But celebrations were stopped when Kayleigh Ann Pearson discovered her cob tasted like ‘hollow.
After checking the corn, she exclaimed “I think that’s an insect” but her siblings and her 38-year old mum weren’t convinced until she shared her stomach-churning discovery with them.
Kayleigh-Ann captured the video. The invertebrate is believed to be a corn-munching borer larva. It protrudes from the center of the cob, with its cream-coloured head and pointed outwards.
A corn borer larva is an extremely destructive flesh-coloured caterpillar.
KFC believes the grub (pictured) inside Kayleigh-Ann Pearson’s corn on the cob to be a crop-munching corn borer
Mum Keeley Trundley (38) and Kayleigh Ann Pearson (21), were from Bromley, Kent on the evening they found the grub
Keeley removes the worm they believe was in the food by using a paper towel. Kayleigh Ann can be heard grumbling and groaning, before she jokes about Jamie’s wonderful surprise birthday.
The mum-of-five Keeley has revealed the £43 order from Bromley KFC, Kent, left the whole family feeling queasy for the rest of the night.
Kayleigh-Ann said that the “traumatizing” incident made her feel so disgusted she has stopped eating KFC ever since. Her mum, however, refuses to eat corn on a cob.
Keeley compared the experience to a Bushtucker Trial from ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, and later that night she tweeted KFC to sarcastically request ‘edible food’ next time.
Kayleigh instantly spit out the grub KFC believes to be a corn borer larva.
KFC apologized and promised to make amends for the ‘lost cornborer’ which they claimed caused their family to stop eating.
Kayleigh-Ann Ann said, “I tried to eat some of the corn but I was not satisfied. The corn was hollow at the center, but it is usually quite tough and can be removed.
“I immediately threw it in the trashcan. It was obvious that it was bad, but I assumed it must be rotten.
“At first it looked like sweet corn, but I soon realized that it was a larvae. Then I noticed it was a worm. So I started filming it. It was horrible. It was awful.
Keeley compared the experience to a Bushtucker Trial from ITV’s I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here!, and later that night she tweeted KFC to sarcastically request ‘edible food’ next time
“I couldn’t touch it. I was so disgusted. It was unbelievable. It was actually moving, but it wasn’t.
“For almost the entire night, I was convinced that there had been a worm lodged in my throat. This made it quite distressing.”
“I won’t eat KFC anymore and will only eat sweet corn in a tin, or frozen sweetcorn.” I will not eat it on the cob.
Mum Keeley currently lives with her children Jamie and Joshua Tucker (both nine and nine years old) and Roman Pearson (19 year old). Kayleigh-Ann, who lives in another part of the country, came to celebrate.
Kayleigh Ann and Jamie spend their birthdays out, but Kayleigh Ann wanted to have a KFC dinner so Kayleigh Ann ordered from Just Eat.
Keeley Trundely used Twitter to vent her dissatisfaction with the KFC food that she received for dinner.
Jamie wanted to order KFC for his birthday so she ordered it through Just Eat.
Since then, she expressed disappointment over the “sickening” news as she had been anticipating the “rare opportunity” to share dinner with all five of her children.
It was almost like a Bushtucker Trial. Keeley said that she felt sick for several hours afterwards.
Kayleigh-Ann bit into the kernels and ate it all back. It was not right, she said.
Kayleigh-Ann says she’s been put off from eating at the restaurant chain for ‘maybe a year’ and is glad it wasn’t found by a younger child
Kayleigh-Ann’s family was glad that they had already eaten the majority of their KFC meals as they didn’t believe they could have finished the meal after getting the bug.
“Because she had turned the front room lighting off, she used her flashlight to find a bug on her smartphone and then said: “Oh my God is that a worm?” Everyone just laughed at her.
“I told her that I didn’t believe her.
“When she stated that she thought it is, she handed it to me. We filmed it because it was definitely an worm. She kept on gagging.
Kayleigh Ann discovered that the corn was not edible to them all. The corn was not even opened by them.
KFC Bromley in Kent is where the corn on the cob was infested. KFC asked Keeley for direct messaging, and she stated that she never heard back from them. She had provided order details to KFC on November 17th.
“I could tell she had not eaten the worm, and I was concerned that she might have eaten it again.”
It’s not a reason to be put off KFC, it was just in the corn. However, for now I am going to go with KFC as the worm whenever someone mentions it.
“It will take months before I’m able to order another one, possibly even for a year. This has made it difficult to buy corn on cob at any place – not just home.
“It was a good thing it wasn’t one the younger kids, as they could have eaten it. Kayleigh Ann went around showing everybody, making everyone feel sick.
Kayleigh-Ann describes the moment Kayleigh and Kayleigh found the grub.
Mum Keeley Trundley 38 holds the order details. Her family was horrified by the contents of the corn.
“It was great of KFC giving us a complimentary gift. Next time I would prefer if they just gave me a burger. It’s been a fun joke.
“Thankfully we had already eaten most of the food, so I’m not sure if we would have finished it all.
Family order consisted of two zingerbox meals, two hot wings and one fillet burger.
Keeley posted to Twitter: “As much I value the gift for my 18th birthday today, but I would prefer good food in the future.”
Jamie Pearson, an 18-year-old boy who was watching as the drama unfolded and when the family found the caterpillar, he also watched.
Here’s a screen capture of Uber Eats. The order included two zingerbox meals, two hot wings, one fillet hamburger meal, one zinger burger and one filet dinner.
KFC requested that she contact them by direct message. She claimed then she hadn’t heard back from them after she had provided the details of her November 17th order.
Keeley stated that ‘KFC haven’t gotten back to me since I messaged. They replied that they weren’t sorry to learn I discovered it, and offered some more information.
“I sent the receipt to them so that they could examine it, but they haven’t even seen that.
“I am not certain what I would like them to do.” It was the first thing that came to mind when I saw it. I immediately wanted to share it on Twitter. I would love to receive a refund.
KFC spokesperson: “Oh dear! This little fellow looks like an abandoned corn borer. It can sometimes happen when working with fresh, natural fruit.
“We regret that guests weren’t able to enjoy their dinner. It goes without saying that it shouldn’t have been there. We are reaching out to Keeley because we recognize it is harmless and it does not appeal to everyone.
Just Eat did not comment on the matter, however Keeley received a reimbursement from Just Eat.