From Seats To Cupholders, The ‘Germiest’ Spot In Movie Theaters
Let’s just face it, people can be pretty gross. This is especially true with movie theaters. Some people forget that napkins exist and choose to wipe their buttery popcorn hands on seats. Others may sometimes engage in “adult” activities meant for the bedroom during a screening of Madame Web. To be honest, we really don’t expect a 16-year-old employee being paid minimum wage to go beyond sweeping up popcorn and discarding left-behind beverage cups.
Last year, a cinema worker went viral showing the theater aftermath of Taylor Swift’s Era’s Tour film. Chelsey (@cinema_chelsey) uploaded a series of TikTok videos detailing the mess left by theatergoers. During the video, the TikTokker clears out a huge mess of popcorn, sticky seats, and more.
Recently, the team at an online casino, Betway did an experiment to find out just how dirty cinemas can be by swabbing cinema seats and cupholders. The website revealed exactly how many microbes are actually hiding in theaters. They compared this to the amount of bacteria found on the average toilet seat.
The study revealed that there’s an average of 1,864 colonies of bacteria on a single cinema seat. Comparing this to the average toilet seat, which they found around 135 colonies on average.
It’s worth mentioning that their findings aren’t a reflection of all movie theaters. Many theaters have their own methods of cleaning and sanitizing their buildings.
“Obviously, the cleanliness of the seats will vary across different cinemas, not to mention seat styles and fabrics,” they said. “We won’t name names, but the dirtiest cinema seat we tested had around 3,000 colonies of bacteria living on it,” they continued. On the other hand, they said the cleanest cinema seat had just 80 colonies of bacteria, which is around 55 times less than the average toilet seat.
Do theater seats ever get cleaned?
If you’re wondering if theater seats ever get cleaned, someone on Reddit decided to answer. “Somewhat cleaned. We have anti-odor fabric spray that we regularly spray on the seats, and if there’s a big noticeable stain (i.e. nacho cheese) we have this ‘deep cleaning’ powder we put on it and clean it off,” someone replied. They continued to say that the cleaner is supposed to get rid of the entire stain, but it doesn’t. “If you look closely enough, you can see stains from 10 years ago. Soda, popcorn grease, sweat, [body fluid], you name it, it’s there,” they said. Someone else chimed in, saying, “Thank god for the dark, or else no one would ever sit on those things.”
Interestingly, they found that the average cinema cupholder contains even more germs than the seats. Around 2,396 colonies of bacteria live in one single cupholder on average.
The study also revealed the types of bacteria found in cinemas. From mucus membranes to mold, they found the four main microbes that may be a part of your movie experience. These include staphylococcus, bacillus, pseudomonas, and mold.
Now that we know about germs in theaters, the website does recommend ways to avoid bringing germs home from movie theaters. They suggest washing your hands as soon as you get home, changing your clothes, and taking off your shoes.
Take a look at the complete study here.
8 Incredible Movies That Turn 10 in 2024
