Bizarre Moment Shoppers Stampede and Adults Fight Children Over Viral Energy Drink. "Absolute Carnage."

The holiday season is not a time for the faint-hearted. With the weather surprises, travel delays, and last-minute shopping, it's a stressful time to say at least. But some shoppers in the UK raised to another level causing pandemonium after stampeding in a store for a viral energy drink. Thousands queued for hours outside supermarket Aldi, waiting to get their hands on the drink created by YouTube stars Logan Paul, 27, and JJ Olatunji, 29, who goes by the name KSI.

Despite the market limiting purchases to one per customer, the crowd went wild, with adults literally shoving children out of the way to grab a bottle of Prime Hydration. "There were kids between the ages of seven and 14, they were being pushed out of the way," one customer said. "One of the staff was shouting 'parents, stop pushing the kids'. It was absolute carnage." Here's what video footage of the incident showed. 

Prime Hydration is a drink made of mineral water and coconut water and was created by Paul and KSI. The pair, who were previously boxing rivals, have a combined social media following of over 40 million and have since gone into business together. Their fan base resulted in the drink being sought after, even selling for as much as $360 a bottle.

When Aldi announced they would be selling the drink for as little as $2.40 each, chaos was inevitable. Shoppers waited from 6 am for the store to open, including Adam Smith from  Nottingham, who waited with his "obsessed" son Charlie, 10. "Every child is obsessed with this Prime Hydration drink, so my son insisted that we got up this morning before Aldi opened at 8 am because they are stocking it," he said.

Once the doors opened, pandemonium ensued. People were shoving each other out of the way to get their hands on one of the coconut waters, and even children weren't spared. "There were parents pushing children," says Kristina Sheppard, 19. "There were kids between the ages of seven and 14, they were being pushed out of the way. One of the staff was shouting 'parents, stop pushing the kids'. It was absolute carnage."

In some stores, the drinks sold out within three minutes. One child had his bottle literally snatched right out of his hand by an elderly person, a mother told the Daily Mail. Another father says, "People who were in the queue first were pushed and shoved out the way when the doors opened. People losing their minds – my kids were pushed by grown adults over a drink."

Aldi has completely sold out of the drink and has no idea when they will restock. One store manager says their supplies ran out within 30 seconds of the store opening. "It was really busy this morning," says Frankie Shaxted, deputy store manager of Aldi in Crayford.

"People started queuing from the minute we opened. Stores were sent a limited number of units and that was gone within about 30 seconds." KSI denies they deliberately made too few drinks to increase demand. "We're not even trying to do that," he tweeted. "We're making loads of Prime daily, the demand is literally too high man." 

Absolute carnage in Aldi… people trying to get hold of prime #aldi #prime pic.twitter.com/FgQbxQCQ0X

— Mark Hall 🔰 (@markbenhall) December 29, 2022