The World Cup of Crisps is a Twitter survey created and organised by British television host Richard Osman, to determine the United Kingdom's favourite brand and flavour of crisps.[1][2] The competition takes place every four years, with the inaugural competition running during February and March 2012.

World Cup of Crisps
Tournament information
LocationUnited Kingdom
Established2012; 12 years ago (2012)
Participants32 (2012)
48 (2016–)
Website@RichardOsman on Twitter
Tournament statistics
Top scorer(s)Frazzles;
Monster Munch Pickled Onion
(1 title each)
Current champion
Monster Munch Pickled Onion
(1st title)
Most recent tournament
2016 World Cup of Crisps

History edit

The World Cup of Crisps was originally conceived on social media by Osman in January 2012. The inaugural edition had 32 types of crisp, with eight group winners qualifying for the quarter-finals, and the competition progressing further using a knockout system. Votes were cast on Twitter using the hashtag #wcocr. The second edition was expanded to include 48 types of crisp and three group stages before semi-finals and a final, and votes were cast using Twitter's new poll feature.[3][4]

Results edit

2012 World Cup of Crisps edit

Due to the lack of Twitter polls, no official numbers of votes were revealed in the first edition of the World Cup of Crisps.

Group stages edit

Entries in bold denote crisps that qualified for the knockout stages.

Group A Group B Group C Group D
Walkers Roast Chicken Golden Wonder Salt & Vinegar Walkers Ready Salted Brannigans Beef & Mustard
Discos Salt & Vinegar Doritos Cool Original Nik Naks Spicy French Fries Worcester Sauce
Scampi Fries Monster Munch Pickled Onion Chipsticks Salt & Vinegar Skips
Seabrooks Sea Salt Space Raiders Beef McCoy's Steak Frisps Salt & Vinegar
Group E Group F Group G Group H
Walkers Smoky Bacon Tayto Cheese & Onion Walkers Salt & Vinegar Walkers Prawn Cocktail
Hula Hoops Salt & Vinegar Wheat Crunchies Spicy Tomato Quavers Hula Hoops Ready Salted
Wotsits Frazzles Tomato Snaps Monster Munch Beef
Doritos Chilli Heatwave McCoys Salt & Vinegar Pringles BBQ Pringles Salt & Vinegar

Knockout stage edit

Quarter-Finals Semi-Finals Final
         
McCoy's Steak L
Wotsits W
Wotsits W
Quavers L
Quavers W
Discos Salt & Vinegar L
Wotsits L
Frazzles W
Skips W
Monster Munch Beef L
Skips L
Frazzles W
Monster Munch Pickled Onion L
Frazzles W

2016 World Cup of Crisps edit

The second edition began on Saturday 26 March and is set to conclude on Monday 28 March. The new Twitter poll feature automatically tallied the results, and during the semi-finals over one million votes had been cast.[5]

First Group Stage edit

The 48 crisps were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the second group stage. Bold indicates crisps that qualified.

Second Group Stage edit

The 24 remaining crisps were then re-drawn into six groups of four, with the top two qualifying for a third group stage. Bold indicates crisps that qualified.

Quarter-Final Stage edit

The 12 remaining crisps were then drawn into four groups of three, with just the group winners progressing to the semi-finals. Bold indicates crisps that proceeded.

Knockout stages edit

Semi-Finals Final
    
Wotsits 50%
Quavers 50%
Wotsits 48%
Monster Munch Pickled Onion 52%
Monster Munch Pickled Onion 53%
Walkers Cheese & Onion 47% Third-Place Play-Off
Quavers 51%
Walkers Cheese & Onion 49%

Controversy edit

During and after the second edition of the event, several voters became disillusioned with the choice of crisps on offer. A debate began to emerge on the definition of the word crisp, with three of the four semi-finalists, Wotsits, Monster Munch and Quavers, as well as the 2012 winners Frazzles, being criticised for not conforming to some definitions of the snack. Osman invited those who doubted the validity of the winner to organise their own World Cup.[6]

References edit

  1. ^ Hyde, Marina (2018-06-11). "The World Cup provides a chance to be reminded of our self-delusions | Marina Hyde". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  2. ^ "World Cup of Crisps: Can Northern Ireland's Tayto Cheese and Onion take top prize?". Belfast Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 2020-09-02.
  3. ^ "It's crunch time as Richard Osman launches World Cup of Crisps 2016". RadioTimes. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  4. ^ Metro.co.uk, Rebecca Lewis for (25 March 2016). "Forget the World Cup Of Chocolate, it's all about the World Cup Of Crisps now". Metro. Retrieved 2016-03-28.
  5. ^ UTC, Sam Haysom2016-03-29 11:01:04 (29 March 2016). "An exhaustive recap of the UK's 'World Cup of Crisps 2016'". Mashable. Retrieved 2016-03-29.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  6. ^ "Monster Munch wins World Cup of Crisps crunch match - but is it a crisp?". ITV News. 29 March 2016. Retrieved 2016-03-29.