For the past five days, the Netherlands has been captivated by a nationwide debate about… the bowel movements of a Dutch influencer.
TikTokker and singer Rhodé Kok’s video about her pooping habits has garnered over 800,000 views, prompting thousands of Dutchies to share which public places inspire their intestines the most, reports the AD.
Stimulating supermarket trips
It all started due to Kok’s candid question to her 1.2 million TikTok followers: “Why do I always have to poop when I’m in Albert Heijn?”
@rhodekok zeg alsjeblieft niet dat ik de enige ben
♬ origineel geluid – Rhodé
In just over one minute, Kok explains how she can go up to five days without going number two, until she goes for groceries in the famous Dutch supermarket chain.
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Then, right when she’s “standing there with a big basket full of stuff,” her bowels decide to awaken, to her annoyance.
“What’s in that air there? I’ve had it too often to call it a coincidence,” she wonders.
The TikTok’s caption reads, “Please don’t say I’m the only one.”
A common predicament
Kok is, indeed, not the only one in this sh-, ehm, unfortunate situation.
Thousands of Dutchies have chipped in in the comments agreeing with her, thanking her for her honesty, and sharing their own intestine-inspiring public places.
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The official Albert Heijn account, too, entered the debate. “We just like big groceries,” they joked.
Why does this happen?
But is there a scientific explanation for this strange phenomenon? On Saturday, Flemish science journalist Martijn Peters gathered a few expert theories on this topic in another TikTok video.
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In the video, which already has over 160,000 views, Peters explains that this strange effect is known as the “Mariko Aoki” phenomenon, owing to the name of the Japanese journalist who first shed (shat?) light on it in the 1980s.
Since then, scientists have made several hypotheses but never seriously researched the matter.
@martijn_peters Heb jij hier ook last van? En in welke winkel? 😅😁😁 #askmartijn #wetenschap #science #edutok #tiktoknl #weetjes #feitjes #fyp #health ♬ Funny video "Carmen Prelude" Arranging weakness(836530) – yo suzuki(akisai)
One theory, for instance, blames the squatting-down movement people make to reach the lower shelves, and all that walking between aisles.
Another theory cites the stress and overstimulation of doing groceries in a supermarket.
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Finally, some scientists blame the human brain, either for causing bowel movements precisely due to the anxiety of knowing there are no nearby toilets, or due to looking for connections when there are none, turning a simple coincidence into a pattern. 🚽
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