‘Am I gonna get sick?’: Woman says she ordered Coke at McDonald’s. Then noticed something floating in her drink

A woman who posts on TikTok as Mattie (@mattieandapple) said in a video that she was drinking a Coke from McDonald’s when she noticed something floating in the cup. The video has drawn 270,600 views, 21,000 likes, and 1,000 comments. On-screen text in the clip reads, “Why does my McDonald’s coke have f–king worms in it.”

Mattie, who appeared tearful in the video, said, “I’m literally crying and throwing up because I was drinking my Coke from McDonald’s and there’s a f–king earthworm in it.” She then said, “Oh, there’s a f–king worm in it,” and passed the phone so another person could show the cup. The video cuts to a close-up of a clear plastic McDonald’s cup filled with ice and dark soda, with a red and white striped straw in it.

A small pinkish-brown segmented worm is visible floating among the ice. An off-screen man called it a “Small f–king worm” and pointed toward the bottom of the cup. Mattie said, “It’s down here.” She later asked, “Am I gonna get sick?” In the caption, she wrote that it was her actual worst nightmare and that she could not stop crying.

Mattie described a bug phobia as a similar lawsuit cited worms in drinks at another McDonald’s

Mattie said in the video that she has a bug phobia and called the situation her worst nightmare. She said she kept almost throwing up but could not because she was scared of the worms coming back up and out of her mouth. 

She also said she did not know if there was more than one worm or if it was one large worm in pieces. The off-screen man replied that he thought it might be in pieces. An edit in Mattie’s caption said an update was coming soon and asked people to follow her so she could get in the creator fund to get a lawyer she said she could not afford.

In a similar case reported by WISN 12 News, a class action lawsuit filed in Kenosha County Circuit Court claimed staff at a Paddock Lake McDonald’s in Wisconsin knew a drive-thru soda machine had been contaminated with worms and served customers anyway. According to that suit, three customers reported finding worms in their drinks to the Kenosha Health Department, starting with Jazmyne Gurske.

Gurske wrote in a Facebook post, “How does this even happen?!” She also wrote, “I’m extremely angry and disgusted.” An inspection report cited in that lawsuit said management noticed worms coming from a sewage receptacle the weekend before Gurske visited the 75th Paddock Lake restaurant.

Lawyers in that suit wrote that drain failures allowed contaminated water, wastewater, sewage-related material, or organisms to reach beverage equipment. Kenosha County Communications Manager Joe Potente said a reinspection on April 30, 2026, found repairs complete and the soda machine sanitized, and that an inspector then approved its use.

Viewers left a range of comments under Mattie’s video. One commenter wrote, “They’re sludge worms.” Another wrote, “That looks like a parasite.” A third wrote, “probably not an earth worm, probably mold from the machine, but still disgusting.” For McDonald’s, unsettling discoveries in food purchases have happened before, like when a woman bought sea bass from Whole Foods and noticed something crawling in the package. 

One person who said they had worked at McDonald’s wrote, “I worked there. If you saw the soda machine BACK ROOM, you would never drink that soda. The ice machine is also dirty and gross.”

Another commenter wrote, “I would puke myself inside out.” A further commenter wrote, “Save it don’t throw it away and co tact an attorney immediately and get a consultation.” Food safety concerns have prompted legal consultations, such as when a woman found something bizarre in a Sams Club cookie.