It’s official: a wilting piece of lettuce has outlasted UK Prime Minister Liz Truss.
As Truss’ future in 10 Downing Street was looking in doubt, British tabloid the Daily Star launched the bizarre challenge to see who would last longer.
The Economist sparked the idea in an article that bluntly predicted her career as PM would have the “shelf-life of a lettuce”.
The tabloid then began the joke, placing a lettuce next to a framed photo of Truss.
“Sometimes it’s the simplest ideas that are the best,” associate editor Andy Gilpin told Euronews. “We sent a guy down to Tesco, armed him with 60p.
“Tabloid newspapers are known for their puns, and I think we have exhausted every single lettuce pun over the past 7 days. There’s nothing left in our big book of puns.”
The Daily Star then live-streamed as the lettuce withered away, as did the political support for Truss.
This attracted hundreds of thousands of viewers to the tabloid’s YouTube page.
“We were certainly not prepared for this,” said Gilpin. “All of a sudden, we had 500 people on the stream and they were staying there. People were chatting and saying good night to each other. It was like a little community watching this lettuce.”
When Truss resigned on Thursday, the Daily Star put out disco lights and a small crown proclaiming “Lettuce Liz” as the winner of the competition.
As the politician gave in her resignation, the live stream soared to more than 20,000.
So, what does the future hold for Lettuce Liz?
“There are high-level talks about the future of this lettuce,” said Gilpin. “Who knows? Maybe it’s going to run for election.”