Jell-O Divers Sink Teeth Into Slime to Win the Green

One by one, dozens of daring teenagers spent their lunch hour Tuesday diving head first into a bucket of slimy green Jell-O.

In what has become a St. Patrick’s Day tradition in Pacifica High School’s quad, students began lining up the minute the lunch bell rang for a chance to clamp their teeth onto hot dogs that had been wrapped in cash and buried in the 55-gallon can of gooey gelatin.

Organizers spent most of the afternoon Monday mixing the 45 gallons of Jell-O needed for the event. Students wrapped one $100 bill, two $50s, five $20s, 10 $10 bills and 25 $1 bills around raw hot dogs and buried them deep into the lime-flavored goo.

“I’m going for the $100,” 18-year-old Nick Elwell said. With the word “Irish” painted in green down his arm, Elwell dived in. But he didn’t he grab any cash, and he surfaced hot dogless, too.

“It feels weird,” 17-year-old Melody Parmenter said as she laughed and rinsed her hair and torso with a hose. “It’s like suction cups all over your whole head.”

Justin Burt, an 18-year-old senior, blasted head-first into the bucket and flipped over in his zest to clamp his teeth into a frankfurter. “All I got was a buck,” Burt said as he dripped green slime.

Students gathered around the brimming bucket to watch or root on their friends. As student after student emerged with the same stunned expression, others became more certain the Jell-O dive wasn’t for them.

“I really don’t like to put my head into regurgitated Jell-O,” said 16-year-old sophomore Mike Edmundson.

In the end, only two $20s, two $10s and several $1 bills were pulled from the goop. The $100 bill was found wrapped around a hot dog remnant, evidence that in someone’s zeal the wiener was bit in two--with the winning half left behind.