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The hot cheeto that would become a true collector’s item on the internet received 60 bids before selling for a whopping $87,840 on 2 March. Renamed the ‘cheetozard’, the 7.5cm-long snack, which comes with its own personalised Pokémon card, was reportedly sold at Pop Culture Elite’s auction. The company shared the sale on social media within hours, generating mixed reactions that set the post on fire.
While detractors wondered who would spend that kind of money for a cheeto, others reflected their fondness for him in the comments of Goldin’s announcement, a joint Instagram post with eBay.
Another, meanwhile, joked that the person who bought Cheetozard must be ‘the same guy who bought the duct-taped banana’, referring to the viral artwork of the yellow banana taped to a wall that sold for $6.24 million last year.
Cheetozard would initially be discovered and preserved sometime between 2018 and 2022 by 1st & Goal Collectibles – a collectibles shop in Holly Springs, Georgia – and ‘surged in popularity’ online last year, Goldin said.
The edible Pokémon would reach its viral moment following an Instagram post shared by 1st & Goal Collectibles in April 2024, which garnered over half a million likes and countless reactions, making it an object of desire for the Pokémon community.