Chubby bunny

A man playing Chubby Bunny.

Chubby bunny (variations include similar sounding chubby bunnies, fluffy bunny, yummy bunny, chubby monkey, and pudgy bunny) is a recreational game that involves the placement of an increasing number of marshmallows or similar items into one's own mouth and stating a phrase that is intended to be difficult to utter with a filled mouth. The phrase can be "chubby bunny" or its variants, but the suppressive structure is typically more important than which words are used. The game is often played where marshmallows are readily available, such as around a campfire.

Rules

In the game, each participant usually places a marshmallow into their mouth and says something similar to "Chubby Bunny". If they are able to state the whole phrase, usually in a comprehensible manner that the other participants wholly concur to, they pass that round. Each successful player then adds an additional marshmallow to the one already in his or her mouth and repeats the phrase. A player who fails to complete the phrase is eliminated from the game. The process continues until only one player remains. After the penultimate player loses the game, the winning player might have to place one more marshmallow into his or her mouth and may have to state the phrase once more. The winner of the game is the player who fits the most marshmallows into his or her mouth.^[1][2] Some variants of the game require the winner to actually ingest the marshmallows.

Cases of Deaths

Chubby Bunny has caused at least two deaths, both from suffocation due to the throat being blocked with marshmallows.

On June 4, 1999, 12-year-old Catherine "Casey" Fish died after choking on four marshmallows while playing Chubby Bunny. The contest was scheduled for the annual Care Fair held at Hoffman Elementary School in Chicago's North Shore area. It was to be supervised, but Casey and some of her friends began playing while the teacher was momentarily away. She collapsed, and was taken to Glenbrook Hospital, where she died a few hours later. Fish's parents subsequently sued the school district and appeared on Oprah to warn about the dangers of Chubby Bunny.^[3][4][5]

On September 12, 2006, Janet Rudd, 32, from London, Ontario, Canada died in a Chubby Bunny competition at the Western Fair. St John Ambulance volunteers came to Rudd's aid with a defibrillator and suction equipment, but were unable to remove the blockage in the unconscious woman's throat.^[6]

The dangers of Chubby Bunny have been showcased in an episode of 1000 Ways to Die and in YouTube videos titled "My Mum Makes Me Munch Marshmallows" by vlogger Charlie McDonnell and "Death by Marshmallows" by vlogger Ian Hecox on the channel IanH as part of his weekly series Ian is Bored.

References

1. ^ Mikkelson, Barbara (2006-09-15). "Chubby Bunny Death". Snopes.com. http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/chubbybunny.asp. Retrieved 2008-04-17. 
2. ^ "Fluffy Bunnies — the Game". h2g2. 1999-10-13. http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A183520. 
3. ^ "Glenview Elementary School District 34". Chicago Tribune. Tribune Company, reposted by Online Legal Marketing Ltd. 2005-06-05. http://www.lawyersandsettlements.com/case/chubby_bunny. Retrieved 2007-05-21. 
4. ^ Keating, David J (2005-05-26). "Civil trial begins in 'Chubby Bunny' death". Medill News Service. Medill School of Journalism. http://mesh.medill.northwestern.edu/mnschicago/archives/2005/05/chubbun_a_civil.html. Retrieved 2007-05-21. ^{[dead link]}
5. ^ Hageman, Joseph R (1999-08-24). ""The Chubby Bunny Game" May Be Hazardous To Your Patients' Lives". PedsCCM.org. Illinois Pediatrician, reposted by PedsCCM. http://www.pedsccm.org/RARE/Chubby_bunny.html. Retrieved 2007-05-21. 
6. ^ Matyas, Joe. "Woman dies after choking at fair". London Free Press. http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/News/Local/2006/09/15/1842947-sun.html. Retrieved 2008-04-17. ^{[dead link]}