Food

Viral Video Shows Mouse Jumping Into a Whataburger Fryer

An attempt to catch a mouse at the Bastrop, Texas burger chain went very, very wrong.
Bettina Makalintal
Brooklyn, US
GettyImages-459200297-french-fries-deep-fryer-fast-food
Photo: Jonathan Austin Daniels via iStock / Getty Images Plus

California has In-n-Out, and New York might have Shake Shack—but Texas has Whataburger, the burger chain that will always keep the Lone Star State's late night drunk eats going. Thanks to a video that surfaced on Facebook this weekend, however, some people might be thinking twice about their next midnight bacon and cheese Whataburger with fries.

This weekend, a Texas man named Brushawn Lewis went to a Whataburger location in the city of Bastrop, where he and others saw a mouse on the counter, which is bad enough as it is. "Alright y'all, whoever paid for their food will get their money back," says a Whataburger employee as the mouse runs on the counter next to the deep fryer, on top of trays and next to metal containers including one that seemingly holds onion rings. It gets worse.

Advertisement

In the video, a person behind the counter begins turning over the containers in an attempt to trap the mouse. But mice, as you might know if you've ever had one, are sneaky, and instead of being caught, the mouse takes a big, brave leap… straight into the deep fryer. Screams of "oh my god" and "deep-fried rat!" follow. The people behind the counter talk about trying to scoop out the mouse, but a Whataburger employee doesn't seem to know how to turn the fryer off.

Lewis's video has gone fully viral, having earned over 2 million views on Facebook, plus reposts on Twitter and various news publications. "The entire restaurant has since been cleaned and sanitized. We addressed this situation as quickly as possible, reinforcing procedures with our Family Members," Whataburger wrote in a statement, per KVUE. "While we’ll continue to be very diligent, it’s important to know there was no history of this type incident at this unit and there is no ongoing issue."

The Bastrop location was temporarily closed and pest control notified, according to the Dallas Morning News, but it has since re-opened. That's as good a reason as any to reconsider your fast food habit.