ah, 5-minute crafts. i can almost guarantee you that most of these won’t even work

This youtuber does debunking videos and I recognise some of those from her videos

I love Ann Reardon when she shits all over these fake how-to videos.

Yeah she’s great! Her videos were actually featured on a BBC segment on twitter about how dangerous some of these life hacks can be to attempt

So the debunking video above led me to watch another debunking video, which started down a very intriguing wormhole of asking why people are producing fake how-to videos like this, and the short version is they’re exploiting algorithms to generate ad revenue and the long version is they’re produced by a Russian content farm that has made some forays into American political ads.

Which is abruptly sobering and worth watching.

Ann Reardon also has a patreon to help keep her channel running because of this shitty algorithm, PLEASE GO SUPPORT HER WHILE YOU CAN!

She seriously doesn’t deserve the treatment youtube’s been giving her, so please support her as much as you can and make sure this shitty farming channel goes down in flames. 

It promotes EXTREMELY DANGEROUS activities such as PUTTING STRAWBERRIES INTO A GLASS OF BLEACH TO TURN THEM WHITE WHICH IS POISONOUS. AND POURING LAVA HOT CARAMEL ONTO A SPINNING WHISK, WHICH WOULD EASILY BURN YOU AND LEAVE A SCAR.

It’s amazing how youtube still tolerates this kind of behavior just because it’s pumping out videos 24/7 and sucking up all of the views. It’s unacceptable and it needs to be stopped as soon as possible.

Again, support Ann Reardon and her cause as much as possible and report the opposing videos promoting this shit. DO NOT LEAVE A COMMENT ON THE VIDEOS! YOU’LL ONLY GIVE THE ALGORITHM THE IDEA THAT THIS VIDEO IS SHAREABLE!

I ADORE Ann Reardon’s videos. She’s got a degree in food science and she knows what’s she’s talking about. All of her debunking videos come with (very easy to understand) scientific explanations for why things won’t work and what to look out for in these videos. One example is the loads of mug cake recipes that you see floating about: if there isn’t something it the mixture that will act as a raising agent (eg baking soda, self rising flour or eggs) then your mug cake just won’t work. She debunks so many stupid (and often dangerous) cooking hacks, along with giving alternative recipes and hacks that actually will work and will be safe.

Plus she’s an Aussie and she’s just an absolute savage when she wants to be. Her humour in these videos is so deadpan and sarcastic and it’s so funny to watch, along with being educational! Her husband, Dave, is also really funny and a great sport (as he’s usually the test subject for the horrible food she’s made following these “hacks”)

But please please please don’t just support these debunking videos. Go watch her other videos! Her recipes are amazing and she’s made some incredible stuff during her time on YouTube (my personal favourite is when she made a portrait of Wonder Woman out of chocolate) and her videos (aside from the debunking ones) are actually really relaxing to watch. During lockdown I’ve been watching them before bed and trying some of the recipes the next day. Also the amount of work that goes into her videos is insane! Lots of them include stop motion animation!!!

So yeah support Ann Reardon and the how to cook that YouTube channel.