A Cheetos snack shaped like a famous Pokémon has sold for nearly $90,000 at auction.
The Flamin' Hot Cheeto, shaped like Charizard and dubbed "Cheetozard," has sold for $87,840 at a Goldin Auctions event, according to Entertainment Weekly. Initially listed for $250, the 3-inch snack sparked a bidding frenzy, with 60 bids placed before the final sale on March 2.
The rare collectible became the highlight of the 2025 February Pop Culture Elite Auction, beginning with a $250 opening bid. The final bid came in at $72,000, but with Goldin's buyer's premium, the total sale price soared to nearly $88,000.
The Cheeto was "affixed to a customized Pokémon card and encapsulated in a clear card storage box" for display and preservation purposes, according to Goldin's website.
"It was initially discovered and preserved sometime between 2018-2022 by 1st & Goal Collectibles," the item description said. "The Cheeto surged in popularity on social media platforms in late 2024."
The Cheeto was purchased by collectibles store 1st & Goal Collectibles on eBay over five years ago for $350 in 2019 or 2020, according to Men's Journal.
"We've had the Cheetozard for about 5 years now, and we totally forgot we had it until cleaning out the safe! Loads of offers have come in. If interested pm us," the store wrote on its Instagram account in 2024.
While the Cheetozard's final price tag has raised eyebrows, it's far from the only food-related item to carry a steep cost. In November, Maurizio Cattelan's controversial artwork "Comedian," featuring a banana taped to a white wall, sold for a staggering $6.24 million, E! News reported.
First showcased at Art Basel Miami Beach in December 2019, the banana installation quickly drew large crowds, with Sotheby's auction house estimating its value at around $1.5 million at the time.
"They eventually had to take it off the wall," art critic Nancy Durrant said in a Sotheby's video about the auction, "because it created such a stir that the crowds were too big, and they were all worried about the other artworks."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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