Man who found ‘hideous’ smooth Mars bar gets compensation

A not so sweet surprise

Harry Seager created online hysteria in early November after he posted an image of the chocolate bar without its signature ripple on the Dull Men’s Club Facebook page, with one labelling it “hideous”.

The 34-year-old was adamant to get an answer from Mar Wrigley UK and contacted the manufacturer to get to the bottom of this crazy cocoa conundrum.

Mars Wrigley UK would not give a definitive answer, but did say earlier this month that the bar had "slipped" through its production line and confirmed the swirl was being kept.

Members of the Facebook group posited that the bar may have evaded the air blowing phase of production, leaving the bar jarringly smooth.

Seager, from Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, bought the bar from a service station in Thame, Oxfordshire as he was on his way to a classic car show in Birmingham.

For his trauma of having to endure the strange looking Mars bar, Seager was rewarded a comprehensive lump sum of two Great British pounds for his troubles.

“The only reason I emailed [Mars] was because I was interested in what might have caused it to happen. That is all I wanted to know and they kept side-lining that question,” he said.

“I think £2 is great, it will be two free Mars bars. Maybe they could have sent me more but I’m not being ungrateful. I think it’s amazing after everything that’s happened that I got the £2 voucher.”

All Mars bars are born in Slough, Berkshire, and still are to this day, first being produced in the town in 1932.

“A few people who used to work at Mars’ factories commented [on Facebook] and they said it goes through a machine called an enrober, which is like the waterfall the bars go through," Mr Seager said.

“Apparently they get blown with air along the top as it comes out of that waterfall. Apparently there’s meant to be somebody at the end who removes the ones which haven’t been hit by the air.

“I don’t know what happens to them then. I suppose they got put into products that have Mars bars in, like cakes and things.”

Image credit: Harry Seager