Carnival fork foot-scratching video gives cruise dining a viral wobble
Carnival said staff intervened after videos appeared to show a passenger scratching her bare foot at a table, including with a fork.
By Georgia Hale · Staff Writer
2 min read
A Carnival cruise passenger has become the internet’s latest dining-room nightmare after videos appeared to show her scratching the bottom of her bare foot while seated at a table with food in front of her.
TMZ reported that the clips, posted by Instagram user @lucky_charmedcourt, show an unidentified woman sitting in what appears to be a dining area on a Carnival ship. In the footage, she repeatedly scrapes at dry skin on the sole of her foot while other people are nearby.
The video shows the woman at a table with a plate of food, according to TMZ. At one point, she appears to brush off her fingers and return to eating from the plate.
A second clip took the episode from bad manners into sanitation-alert territory. TMZ reported that the passenger appeared to use a metal fork to scratch the bottom of her foot after using her fingers.
The footage does not show what happened to the utensil after that, according to the report. The passenger has not been publicly identified, and the clips do not include any comment from her.
Carnival responds after the clip spreads
Carnival addressed the incident on Instagram with a line that matched the internet’s horrified fascination. “We can confirm that forks are intended for food, not foot care,” the cruise line wrote, according to TMZ.
The company said employees acted quickly after becoming aware of what was happening. Carnival said staff spoke with the guest and removed the fork from use, according to the report.
Carnival also said the episode did not represent its standards and stressed that it treats sanitation seriously, TMZ reported.
The clips have drawn plenty of online reaction because of the setting: a shared eating area, a bare foot, visible scraping and a utensil normally meant for a meal. The passenger’s behavior was captured in public view, according to the footage described by TMZ.
No illness, injury or disciplinary action was reported in connection with the incident. Carnival’s public response focused on staff intervention and the removal of the fork.
The video landed in the well-worn category of vacation behavior that people cannot stop watching, even while wishing they had never seen it. For Carnival, the message was plain: the fork left the table, and the company says foot care is not on the menu.
This story draws on original reporting from TMZ.