On October 5th, 2008, Jessica Whyte, her husband Stephen, and their three sons were served a bowl of complimentary gelato at the Coogee Bay Hotel in Sydney, Australia, after they had complained (perhaps more than once) about either the food, noise, staff, and/or prices on the menu. When Jessica dove in to the gelato, she recoiled, knowing instantly she had just eaten human fecal matter. 11 years later, the mystery of who put poop into the Whyte’s gelato has yet to be solved.
“There were four scoops including vanilla, chocolate, and hazelnut,” Jessica told The Sydney Morning Herald in 2008. “At the bottom, there appeared to be chocolate. Greedily, I went for it ahead of the kids. Thank heavens I did. The stench, the taste… I spat the food into a napkin and immediately I was sick.”
“There was no doubting what it was,” she continued. “The whole family became hysterical. My poor son screamed at one of their staff: ‘You made my mum eat poo.”‘
The Whyte family took the issue up with the hotel’s management before bringing a sample of the “chocolate gelato” to the police, where it was confirmed that there was indeed human poop mixed into the dessert.
Coogee Bay’s owner Christopher Cheung tried to buy the Whyte’s silence for $5,000 AUD ($3,500 USD), to which the Whytes took massive offense. “I said: ‘I think you’re missing the point here. My wife and children sat down in your pub and were served a bowl of free ice-cream containing feces,'” Stephen Whyte told the Herald.
It was then that the Whytes went public and demanded $1 million AUD from the hotel. That’s more like it.
This story is still the only legit "scoop"
— Cameron Williams (@MrCamW) October 25, 2018
Unsurprisingly, a lawsuit ensued with hired detectives, three suspects, CCTV footage, and ultimately, a dead end. Furthermore, the New South Wales Food Authority could not determine if the feces was even human — it may have been animal.
Therefore, figuring out where/who the poop came from was impossible. The Whytes, who were now known publicly for their poop endeavor, ended up settling with the hotel for about $50,000 AUD.
remember when the woman found poop in her ice cream at the Coogee Bay Hotel? That's one of my first memories of Australia. What is it with Australians, ice cream, and shit
— naama (@derridalicious) December 30, 2018
Eleven years later, people are still wondering who in the heck put poop — er, we mean poo — in the gelato. If we were Jessica, we’d never be able to trust chocolate gelato again.
We never use the word poop in Australia. It is poo.
— Ali Davey ألي (@thesheika) December 30, 2018
If you’d like to hear all the gruesome details about the Whyte’s battle, check out the All Aussie Mystery Hour podcast. And when we say “gruesome details,” we mean a lot of poop talk.
But just because the case has gone cold, that does not mean people have forgotten. Australians are still well-versed in this true crime story, and we’re all patiently waiting for someone to come clean.
Meanwhile, we’re struggling with some newly-developed trust issues. We see this:
And now think this. Sad.
Please let us mourn. We can’t look at this:
Without thinking of this! That’s the real crime, people!
If you have any information about who may have laced the chocolate gelato with poop at the Coogee Bay Hotel in October 2008, please give us a shout. We’d love to break this case wide open.
You can’t hide forever, phantom pooper. We will find you.
And you will get your just desserts. Whatever that means in this scenario.
Sorry that we’ve ruined chocolate gelato for you. But let this be a lesson to smell your chocolate dessert before taking a bite.
