Dora’s been exploring a little too much.
A large UK water company has shared its top 10 list of “weird and wacky” items that workers have found clogging up sewers after they were questionably flushed down a toilet.
On Friday, central England sewage service Severn Trent revealed that a Dora the Explorer action figure — “which obviously went on quite an explorative adventure” — and an extremely battered, mud-caked and stringy-haired Ken doll topped the roster of peculiar items.
In a cheeky video posted on the company’s TikTok account last month, the pitiful plastic Ken — which had the name “JORDAN” scrawled on his chest — was shown in a worker’s hand as he was spun around, arms raised, to the background track of Ryan Gosling’s Oscar-nominated “I’m Just Ken” from the 2023 movie “Barbie,” in which the actor played the iconic doll.
Perhaps he was unceremoniously flushed because he just wasn’t Kenough for the film’s namesake. “Barbie dumped Ken…by accident,” joked the clip’s caption.
Other eyebrow-raising items that have blocked up the works include false teeth and, inexplicably, “pieces of a garden shed” and “a chopped-up bed frame,” as well as more common household belongings like glasses, wallets and keys, according to the company.
“Over the years, we have seen so many things making their way through the sewers, all you have to do is sift through the skips of unflushable items that are filtered out of the treatment process at our Sewage Treatment Works, and you will be able to find all sorts,” said Grant Mitchell, sewer blockages lead for the drinking-water supplier, which serves upwards of 8 million people in the UK’s Midlands area.
“How some of this stuff has got in there is anyone’s guess, but it makes the job pretty entertaining for everyone,” he added.
The company’s waste crews have cleared a whopping 28,782 blockages over the past year alone.
Interestingly, Severn Trent noted that one of the biggest blockage offenders is so-called “flushable” or “biodegradable” wet wipes — which the company says “don’t break down like toilet paper” and can cause significant problems, despite their deceptive labeling.
Other problematic items have included cotton balls, nappies and sanitary products.
Just don’t poo-poo the messenger, who simply wants everyone to think before flushing.
“We would urge everyone to keep in mind that only the three P’s should be put down the toilet — pee, poo and paper, and bin everything else,” Mitchell said.
Top 10 ‘strangest and funny’ items found in the sewers:
- Toys — including a Dora the Explorer action figure, which obviously went on quite an explorative adventure, and a Ken doll
- Pieces of a garden shed
- False teeth
- Underwear
- A chopped-up bed frame
- Glasses
- Wallets
- Keys
- Cutlery
- Car tires
