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Plenty of Irish media outlets fell for this video from a comedy Facebook page

Banana sales were probably down around Ireland over the weekend.

banana3

LAST THURSDAY, COMEDY Facebook page The Irish Take put together a quick video showing a big spider in a bag of bananas, with a voiceover exchange between an Irish shopkeeper and a woman supposedly complaining about them.

The clip absolutely exploded, going viral around the world:
https://www.facebook.com/TheIrishTake/videos/584082721744290/

The video received a lot of attention from websites and newspapers both in Ireland and abroad – despite the fact that the voiceover is fake, and the footage is taken from an old YouTube clip for comedy purposes.

headlinespider2 SundayWorld SundayWorld

headlinespider Independent Independent

headlinespider3 Her.ie Her.ie

headlinespider4 Mirror Mirror

headlinespider5 Joe.co.uk Joe.co.uk

The Irish Take’s Stevie Cahill told DailyEdge.ie that the whole thing has blown up way more than he could ever have expected: 

It was obviously a bit of a joke to start with, I didn’t think it would get this much of reach at all.
A lot of people ran with it. Media outlets in America were getting in touch with me. They just didn’t check to see where the original came from.

The original video was posted back in 2009, showing an American man coming across the massive spider in a supermarket

tripleb162 / YouTube

With nearly 5000 shares and 400,000 views, most people were outraged by the attitude of the shopkeeper and didn’t catch the fact that it was from a comedy page with the tagline “just for fun”.

It was meant as a joke, like all our other videos. I said we would just have have a bit of a laugh with it. I think it got so popular because of people’s fear of spiders. We’re probably responsible for the downfall of banana sales around the country over the weekend.

Some people really wanted Stevie to name and shame the fictional shopkeeper from the skit:

People were messaging me saying ‘you have to name this shop’. Thousands of comments were coming in – and a few people found the original video and posted it – but everyone else ignored that and just kept commenting about what an outrage it was.

It’s been a whirlwind few days for The Irish Take:

Absolutely. It took me 30 seconds to download and 45 seconds to dub with my wife – and it’s still getting shared all over the world.
I’d never seen those bananas on sale in Ireland.

Everyone can stand down now, the shocking banana spider of Kilkenny is not real. At least not in Ireland, anyway.

Written by David Elkin and posted on DailyEdge.ie

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14 Comments
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    Mute Rommel Burke
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    May 15th 2012, 3:05 PM

    Media mogul shocked by media bias! You couldn’t make it up. Well you could but…..I’m past caring.

    101
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    Mute Fagan's
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    May 15th 2012, 2:58 PM

    Dennis you have certainly given them enough material to use against you.

    That said, it has to be one of the lowest grade newspapers I have ever read, full of made up anon. quotes, character assassination and lies.

    (A household journalist in the Sunday Independent confirmed that “Yeah, we make up the quotes, Aengus gave us 50p a word to do it, he once beat a journalist with his own shoe, after he reported the news accurately”).

    85
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    Mute jason bourne
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    May 15th 2012, 3:33 PM

    Is it me or does denis o Brien look incredibly like don conroy in that photo?

    73
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    Mute Cal Mooney
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    May 15th 2012, 4:14 PM

    I dont mean to give the baul Denis a compliment… but he looks more like Rutger Hauer in this photo..
    http://www.avclub.com/articles/rutger-hauer,55531/

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    Mute Begrudgy
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    May 15th 2012, 2:55 PM

    How much has o’brien lost again in his attempted takeover of Indepentant news and media with share price collapse. Definately in the hundreds of millions. Was this revenge and power hungry mission really worth that much ? Guess you just have to ask his ego.

    68
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    Mute HARRY MARKOPOLOS
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    May 15th 2012, 7:01 PM

    Denis will just have to buy out the ”Sindo” and sack Mr Morrissey just like he did with Dunphy and Smyth.

    23
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    Mute Gay Pea McManus
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    May 16th 2012, 3:40 PM

    Could have been worse, at least they didn’t say he had a micropenis or something, that would have have had something to really whinge about, while half the country are on the breadline.

    4
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    Mute Dave
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    May 15th 2012, 3:32 PM

    The Independent is no better than a red top. The whole paper is agenda driven, its not just directed at DOB.

    64
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    Mute Martin Mac
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    May 15th 2012, 4:25 PM

    Whatever about your man O’Brien….he is right about one thing the SINDO “NEWSPAPER” is one the worst & most vested interested driven paper you are EVER likely to read. FACT. I would not use that paper for my cats litter tray its that vile.

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    Mute Kevin O'Sullivan
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    May 15th 2012, 3:20 PM

    A lot of people say that about the Sindo tbh.

    40
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    Mute Charles Fitzgerald
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    May 15th 2012, 5:46 PM

    Man goes from little rich kid with no aptitude for running a business to a billionaire communications mogul by getting a mobile telephony under dubious circumstances. He ‘jokes’ about giving a government minister 100k to his chief executive and claims he should have been able to deduce from the tone of his voice that he was ‘taking the piss’. He the mismanages ESAT for as long as he needs to hold the license, moves to Portugal and flogs the company to O2 for around a 600m profit and claims non residency to avoid CGT. He tells Pat Kenny he took out multiple mortgages on his house to pay for the license. The tribunal finds him a non credible witness and he claims victimization. If only CAB had a corruption wing.

    39
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    Mute Diarmuid Danger Lenihan
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    May 15th 2012, 3:13 PM

    Tis a hard old life for Denis. Hello detective ford !

    28
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    Mute limofax
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    May 15th 2012, 6:17 PM

    Wasn’t he found to be corrupt?
    That said the paper is a piece of s**t anyway.

    23
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    Mute Kieran Clarke
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    May 15th 2012, 6:41 PM

    There is definitely a market for a good sunday newspaper in Ireland, the tribune and independent are rubbish, the times is little more than the English times with about 2 extra articles and while it is very good the sunday business post isn’t exactly for everyone.

    22
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    Mute Ann Toebes
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    May 15th 2012, 11:50 PM

    There hasn’t been a Tribune for about a year now – safe to say you are not missing it!!

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    Mute Kieran Clarke
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    May 16th 2012, 12:44 AM

    Haha I actually lived abroad for most of the year hadn’t realised cheers lol

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    Mute Susie Chester
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    May 15th 2012, 3:43 PM

    He never said any of it was lies tho !

    19
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    Mute Frank Faldo
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    May 15th 2012, 4:08 PM

    I think hes an arogant man but he must remember money is not happiness.

    15
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    Mute Barry McSweeney
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    May 15th 2012, 5:37 PM

    When tax exiles fall out . . . .

    16
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    Mute Mick Conway
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    May 16th 2012, 1:14 AM

    the man is a hero. a through example of an irish man who has gone on to be a success. even if he did some dodgy dealings its how ireland worked at the time. His methods where called into question because he was high profile. You cannot say Denis doesnt have a business brain just look at what he has done since he made a few million with esat. digifone is a huge success one of the biggest telecoms companies ever and no matter where he is a resident now. would you not do the same to protect your income?

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    Mute Frank2521
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    May 15th 2012, 11:49 PM

    O Brien owns all the media as no press will print anything about him as they are afraid of his legal team. My comments were blocked too.

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    Mute Adam Magari
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    May 15th 2012, 11:00 PM

    O’Brien should look on the bright side. The Sunday Independent might have won a subediting contract if the recent tribunal report completion had been put out to tender.

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    Mute Fiachra Maolmordha Ó Raghallaigh
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    May 16th 2012, 12:16 AM

    He handed them the gun (the tribunal), and gave them a worthy motive to shoot them (potential editorial interference).

    Although the Indo is a rag, I doubt O’Brien cares much for journalistic quality – he just wants to stop them from attacking him.

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    Mute Mick Conway
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    May 16th 2012, 1:26 AM

    digicel even*

    1
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