Selects: The Great Finger in the Wendy’s Chili Caper

Summary

Stuff You Should Know — "Selects: The Great Finger in the Wendy’s Chili Caper"

Episode Date: October 25, 2025 (replay of January 10, 2019)
Hosts: Josh Clark & Charles W. "Chuck" Bryant
Podcast: iHeartPodcasts

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Episode Overview

This entertaining and incisive episode explores the infamous "Wendy’s Chili Finger" caper of 2005, in which a woman claimed to have bitten into a human finger while eating chili at a San Jose Wendy’s. Josh and Chuck break down the strange, far-reaching saga: from the initial incident, through the public and corporate responses, to the criminal investigation and ultimate unraveling of a convoluted hoax. The hosts take listeners inside the investigation and courtroom drama with a blend of humor, camaraderie, and a respect for the stranger truths of modern life.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Incident: A Finger in the Chili (06:19–10:13)

• Setting the Scene:
  • March 22, 2005, downtown San Jose Wendy's. Anna Ayala is dining with her family, bites into her chili, and claims to find a human finger.
    • Chuck (06:49): “She’s about to bite down into a bite of Wendy's chili … and then all of a sudden—she's just upset, Josh.”
    • Josh (07:25): “She’s gone berserk … she’s pointed at her chili … and saying there’s a finger in her chili.”
  • Restaurant staff and patrons are stunned and disgusted. Health department, police, and Wendy’s franchise management react swiftly.
    • The finger is described as “about an inch and a half … a very pale carrot with a fingernail” (Josh, 08:38).
  • News quickly spreads, damaging Wendy’s reputation and business in the Bay Area and beyond.
    • Chuck (11:00): “Sales started to plummet … all Wendy sales started to take a hit, especially in the Bay Area.”

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Corporate Crisis Mode — How Wendy’s Responded (12:35–15:06 & 18:34)

• Wendy’s Dilemma:
  • Must handle the incident delicately — cannot appear to attack Anna Ayala or dismiss the claim publicly.
  • Focused on three questions:
    1. Whose finger was it?
    2. How did it get into the chili?
    3. Who is Anna Ayala?
• Behind-the-Scenes Investigation:
  • All restaurant staff undergo polygraph tests and “show us your hands” inspections — no one missing fingers (Josh, 19:16).
  • Suppliers and the entire supply chain checked—no incidents of missing fingers.
    • Josh (20:32): “Traced the chili ingredients to seven different suppliers … documentation from all … no one had suffered any kind of finger injury.”
  • Forensic food microscopy expert Dr. Lynn Bates is hired; she determines the finger was not cooked alongside chili ingredients.
    • Josh (21:48): “…no indication that this finger was cooked for three hours in chili at 170 degrees. It just wasn’t.”
  • Wendy’s offers a tip line, increasing the reward from $50,000 to $100,000 for info.

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Who Is Anna Ayala? — Red Flags and Prior Lawsuits (23:04–26:33)

• Suspicious Past:
  • Private investigator reveals at least 13 prior civil lawsuits filed by Ayala, including against major corporations—often dismissed or dubious.
    • Chuck (23:04): “This woman has filed at least 13 civil lawsuits … he probably could have stopped there, and Wendy’s would have just been like Dave Thomas from the grave would have said, see there? She’s no good.”
  • Family financial stress: Her husband owed hundreds of thousands in back child support; couple involved in a trailer sale scam.
  • A strange moment: Housemate Ken Bono claims the finger was from a deceased aunt, which Ayala denies—raising further suspicion.

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Media Frenzy & Public Reaction (28:36–29:16)

• Intense Coverage:
  • National media, late-night comedy, and public disgust sour quickly.
  • Ayala courts sympathy with a Good Morning America appearance, but police and journalists become skeptical.
    • Memorable Late Night Quote:
      • Josh (28:54): “She’d been spotted going back at Wendy’s and ordering chili again because she was going back to collect all five.” — The Letterman joke.
    • Chuck (29:06): “The chili now comes with fingernail clippers.” — The Leno joke.

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The Investigation Breaks Open (29:16–42:33)

• Tip Lines and Forensic Science:
  • Wendy’s hotlines start to receive tips, including from individuals claiming Ayala had confessed to the scam.
• Backstory of the Actual Finger:
  • Police discover Ayala’s connection to James Plasencia, her husband, and learn of their involvement in other scams.
  • The secret of the finger’s origin is revealed after the tip line nets a call from Mike Casey, a Vegas asphalt company owner.
    • Josh (41:18): “Two people called. One to this day, as far as I can tell, has remained anonymous. The other one was a guy named Mike Casey.”
  • Casey describes employee Brian Rossiter, who lost a finger in a work accident; Plasencia (Ayala’s husband) obtained the severed digit in exchange for forgiving a debt.
    • Chuck (43:18): “He’s like, you give me that finger, and we’ll just call it square.”
  • DNA confirms the finger belonged to Rossiter, sealing the case.

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Legal Consequences and Fallout (45:33–49:57)

• Criminal Charges and Sentencing:
  • Ayala receives a nine-year sentence, Plasencia twelve (including additional charges for unrelated child support and scams).
    • Chuck (45:33): “She got sentenced to nine years, he got sentenced to twelve…”
  • Court orders substantial restitution: $170,000+ in lost wages to Wendy's employees, $500,000 to the franchise owner, and more.
    • Josh (47:21): “Wendy’s supposedly lost $2.5 million in verifiable lost money … had to cut people’s hours.”
  • Ayala is banned from Wendy’s restaurants, though hosts joke about enforceability.

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The Finger-in-Food Phenomenon (48:43–49:21)

• Other “Finger in Food” Cases:
  • Hosts list several real, supply-chain-related incidents of fingers being found at Arby's, TGI Friday’s, and more.
    • Chuck (48:43): “Arby’s, two fingers, 2004. 2012, Coles Frozen Custard. TGI Friday’s hamburger had a finger in 2006.”

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Notable Quotes & Moments

• Sardonic Take on Crisis Management:
  • Chuck (14:29): “What [Wendy’s] can’t do is start to go after this lady and be too sort of dismissive of this finger. Like, there’s no way, lady, this lady’s nuts … You have to be doing all your due diligence sort of quietly.”
• On the Nature of Scammers:
  • Chuck (47:10): “These are the worst kind of people, man. These litigious, like, just like, work for your money, man. Going around suing corporations.”
• Perspective on Unintended Victims:
  • Josh (47:21): “They had to cut the hours of the employees in the Bay Area in particular, because there was such little foot traffic coming through their stores.”
• Closing Clarity:
  • Chuck (49:49): “Shout out to Wendy’s. I don’t know if they like people still talking about this or not, but they did not put a finger in anyone’s chili.”

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Timeline & Timestamps of Major Segments

| Timestamp | Segment | |------------|---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | 06:19–10:13| The 2005 incident: Anna Ayala finds a finger in Wendy's chili | | 11:00–12:35| Impact on Wendy’s business, consumer reaction | | 12:35–15:06| Wendy’s initial response: behind-the-scenes investigation | | 18:34–23:04| How Wendy’s handled public image & legal exposure (incl. Dr. Lynn Bates’ forensic work)| | 23:04–26:33| Anna Ayala’s litigious history and family background revealed | | 28:36–29:16| Media frenzy: Late-night jokes and shifting sentiment | | 29:16–42:33| Investigation deepens, tipsters connect the dots, finger’s true origin revealed | | 45:33–49:57| Legal outcomes: Sentencing, restitution, and lasting consequences | | 48:43–49:21| Other cases of “finger-in-food” in US fast food history |

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Final Thoughts

The Wendy’s Chili Finger Caper remains a fascinating example of modern urban legend, corporate crisis, and bizarrely orchestrated scams. Through their mix of humor and insight, Josh and Chuck walk through every twist: from restaurant panic to criminal justice, media mayhem to the odd footnotes of supply-chain mishaps.

In short, no actual Wendy’s employee lost a finger; the case was a fraud. Both Ayala and Plasencia paid heavy legal and financial prices, but their hoax left a lasting cultural mark—and a cautionary tale about how the media, fast food, and greed can combine to create a fiasco.

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Recommended for:
Fans of true crime, pop culture oddities, crisis management lessons, and anyone who enjoys SYSK’s signature comedic camaraderie.

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For direct quotes, timestamps, and further episodes:

• Visit stuffyoushouldknow.com
• Search: Selects: The Great Finger in the Wendy’s Chili Caper

Transcript

[Josh Clark]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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[Chuck Bryant]

I'm Cal Penn.

[Ed Helms]

I'm Ed Helms.

[Chuck Bryant]

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[Chuck Bryant]

Listen to Earsay on America's number one podcast network, iHeart. Follow Earsay and start listening on the free iHeartradio app today. Hey everybody. Happy Saturday morning or whenever this finds you. Chuck here introducing this week's Selects episode. And we're gonna replay the great finger in the Wendy's Chili caper episode from January 10, 2019. There was a finger found in Wendy's Chili. And this is that story. Enough said.

[Ed Helms]

Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh Clark. And there's Charles W. Chuck Bryant. And there's Jerry. And this is the Stuff youf Should Know Chili Caper edition. Corporate Investigations, Las Vegas, San Jose, Chile.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, and that means we get to use our special investigator nicknames. Seattle Clark, Portland Bryant in San Francisco, Jerry Rowland.

[Josh Clark]

That's not bad. I would have chosen Tawny Catayan for me.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that was a very ham fisted way to set up an in show mention of our three shows next week. Oh.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah, yeah. That was actually lost on me, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

Next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. It's apparently lost on the Pacific Northwest because no One's coming next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. We will be in Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco on January 15th, 16th, and 17th at the Moore Theater, Revolution hall, and the Castro for Sketchfest. And you have a End of the World Live Friday night in San Francisco. And I have a Movie Crush Live on Saturday afternoon in San Francisco.

[Josh Clark]

I also have a Brooklyn End of the world 12 on the 24th, just FYI.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hey, let's not get carried away here, okay?

[Josh Clark]

All right.

[Chuck Bryant]

But those are the shows we have coming up, everyone, so come on out. There's still great tickets left at all three of these venues and all five, probably. I'm not sold out for Movie Crush.

[Josh Clark]

No, I'm not either.

[Chuck Bryant]

And especially those into the world of Movie Crush shows are your best chance to hang out and talk to us personally because they're more intimate venues.

[Josh Clark]

Like, I wear a negligee.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, busy Phillips is there, so I'm going to have on my dinner jacket.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, very nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

Trying to impress her with my tuxedo look, which is not impressive.

[Josh Clark]

Tuxedo and jeans. It's a look.

[Chuck Bryant]

So get all the [e-mail] or for the Sketch Fest shows, just go to the SF Sketchfest site and come out and support us, everyone, and shake our hand, pat us on the back, or spit on our shoes.

[Josh Clark]

Don't do that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Don't do that.

[Josh Clark]

Spit between our shoes. Just make it close, you know?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. If you really hate us, spit between our shoes.

[Josh Clark]

There you go. That's gonna end up on a T shirt, I have a feeling.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, let's talk about chili fingers.

[Josh Clark]

All right, so back in 2005, actually, let's get in the way back machine. Go watch this thing go down.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wayback Machine. Just for this short distance. Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

I mean, it's not like you can walk to 2005.

[Chuck Bryant]

This is actually kind of great, though, because when you're 48, almost to go back 13 years, I want to go.

[Josh Clark]

Back up and do it all over.

[Chuck Bryant]

So all of a sudden, I'm 35, which I thought was old.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

But, man, I'd love to be 35 right now.

[Josh Clark]

I'm pretty happy with 42. I've got to say. I'm not quite. I'm not quite happy with the kind of catcher's mitt that my face is turning into. But everything else, I'm pretty glad about.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, just wait. Just wait.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wait till 48 happens.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, no.

[Chuck Bryant]

You're staring down the barrel of 50 and you're going, geez, I only got, like, 15 more good years left.

[Josh Clark]

That is so not true. Don't you know? 50s the new 35 is it? You know what's funny is all the people in this Wendy's in San Jose we just showed up at, are looking at. It's like, what are these guys talking about?

[Chuck Bryant]

I know, they're like, get your superbar order underway.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. They're like, why don't you guys just be quiet and listen to Chumbawamba like everybody else is right now?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't think they had superbar in 2005. That was more like the 80s and 90s, but still.

[Josh Clark]

What was it? Superbar. He.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. You don't remember that?

[Josh Clark]

No.

[Chuck Bryant]

Wendy's in the 80s.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Had the Superbar, which was this weird combination of tacos and pasta and salad and baked potatoes. And baked potatoes all just like whatever you want.

[Josh Clark]

I forgot all about that, man. What a good idea.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. The superbar was a weird, weird thing, but I ate it.

[Josh Clark]

So there is no superbar anymore. But there is. If you look over there, there's a woman named Anna or Anna Ayala, and she is sitting with her in laws, her. Her mother in law, her father in law, her brother in law, maybe a couple other people, and she is about to bite down into a bite of Wendy's chili that she has just ordered at the San Jose Wendy's. Downtown San Jose Wendy's, I believe. March 22, 2005.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. She's in her. Her late 30s. It's cold in San Jose. She's from Las Vegas, so she's not used to this.

[Josh Clark]

She's actually. So she's from San Jose originally, but she's moved to Vegas a couple years ago for a few years.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, sure. She has lived in Las Vegas lately and has been warming in the sun there.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And is like, I don't like this cold. I'm gonna order some chili. Cause that Wendy's chili is so, so good.

[Josh Clark]

It's meaty and warm, as Ed puts it.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And so she sits down, she's eating this thing, and then all of a sudden, look at her.

[Josh Clark]

She's just.

[Chuck Bryant]

She's. She's upset, Josh.

[Josh Clark]

She's gone berserk. Everybody at the table's got their hands up like, whoa, settle down. And she's like just pointed at her chili. Her chili cup, which she's reached the bottom of, and she's saying that there's a finger in her chili.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

That she just bit into a finger.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. She looks like she's about to puke.

[Josh Clark]

Mm.

[Chuck Bryant]

I didn't see her vomit.

[Josh Clark]

I didn't either.

[Chuck Bryant]

But in court later, she would say she did. So maybe we can be key witnesses.

[Josh Clark]

Right. She's going up to the counter, demanding. I think she just said to one of the cashiers, who did you kill to get this finger? Which is a weird thing to say.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. She's yelling at everyone else in the restaurant with chili, saying, don't eat that.

[Josh Clark]

Yep, there's fingers.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's finger chili.

[Josh Clark]

That's right. Finger chili. No one wants cha cha cha. She's starting to try to start a chant, I believe.

[Chuck Bryant]

And there's only one guy that's still eating. And he said, yeah, ordered the finger chili.

[Josh Clark]

Right. He said, I think you got mine. So she's freaking out. Things are starting to go down. There's a hubbub in the restaurant. Everyone's got every. She has everyone's attention. She's saying that she just found a finger in her chili. The people at the counter are incredulous. They're kind of poking at it a little bit. They're saying, I think it's a vegetable or whatever.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it looks like a carrot to me, lady.

[Josh Clark]

Right. A very pale carrot with a fingernail on it. And it's the fingernail, really, that does the trick. After this point, it becomes clear to everyone in the Wendy's that there is a fin that this woman just found in her chili. There's a fingernail on it. It's about an inch and a half of finger from the tip to, well, about an inch and a half down. And she just bit down on it and she found it in her chili. So the Wendy's employees react swiftly. They dump out all the chili. They call the police. The police come by and they say, well, this is a health department kind of thing, really. And the police leave, and the Wendy's employees call the owners of the franchise, J E M management, and they don't do anything to that finger. Put it in the freezer and we'll be there in the morning. And at this point, Ana Aleya leaves, or Ana Ayala. This is going to be very difficult because I want to say Alaya, yeah, she leaves. Her families are taking. Her family members are taking pictures of the location. And a huge national story has just begun. By 10 o' clock that night, this happened about 7. By 10 o' clock on the local news, there's an unconfirmed report of a woman who found a finger in her chili at Wendy's.

[Chuck Bryant]

And Dave Thomas gets indigestion immediately.

[Josh Clark]

Well, he'd been dead a few years, so that'd be phenomenal.

[Chuck Bryant]

I thought he was alive then.

[Josh Clark]

He died in 2002.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, well, he's rolling over in his grave.

[Josh Clark]

But by this time, you know, he'd really kind of made Wendy's like a really loved and respected, you know, restaurant. Because everybody thought Dave Thomas was so great.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, yeah. And as. Are we out of the Wayback Machine? Are we done play acting?

[Josh Clark]

I was serious, but, yes, we are.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, you were seriously play acting. You were Laurence Olivier.

[Josh Clark]

Maybe I was delusional. I thought we were in that Wendy.

[Chuck Bryant]

So immediate. Almost immediately, word starts to spread on the news, obviously. And as you might well imagine, the Wendy's restaurant chain, especially in the area, in the Bay Area, near San Jose, it really starts to take a business hit, as you would imagine. People are not like, oh, they found a finger in some Wendy's chili. That really reminds me how much I love Wendy's chili. Let's go out and get a hot cup.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Because they are sort of famous for their chili.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah. I mean, if you want chili at a fast food restaurant, you're going to Wendy's because you're not going to find it anywhere else. They really planted their flag on the chili market.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. The old A&WS had pretty good chili.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah. But you wanted that on a dog.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure. And of course, the Midwest, still very famous for their skyline chili, which is delicious.

[Josh Clark]

Is that. I guess that'd be fast food, huh?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I think they actually have skyline chili restaurants.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, yeah. Which is good. It's quite good.

[Chuck Bryant]

It is.

[Josh Clark]

But if you're going to go just about anywhere in the US and you have a hankering for chili, you're going to go to Wendy's. But like you said, sales started to plummet. And not just like chili sales, all Wendy sales started to take a hit, especially in the Bay Area, like you said, especially in. In the western United States. People were just kind of grossed out by this whole idea. But like I said, the, the. The cops had shown up and decided it was a health inspectors or a health department's jam. They didn't really have anything to do with it. So the next morning, the owners of the franchise, the county health inspector, they showed up. I think they contacted Wendy's communications department and the gears were starting to move. There was something that they had to deal with, and that was basically threefold. It was really twofold as far as Wendy's was concerned at first. But the third one crept in pretty quickly. Whose finger was this.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

How did the finger get into the chili?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And then after that, who was this woman who found the finger in her chili? And so Wendy's really started to focus on the first two. Because one thing, the way that this whole thing played out, the cops were very hands off at first. They felt this was a health department issue, a public health issue, and not a police issue. And basically said, you need to go figure this out yourself. Wendy's. And so Wendy's had to do a lot of extra legwork that they probably wouldn't have had to do had the cops decided immediately that it was a criminal issue. But in the cops defense, it didn't appear immediately to be a criminal issue. It appeared to be like a woman found a finger in her chili at Wendy's and that's gross. So go figure it out. Wendy's.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I also bet there was like one guy who literally ate, went to that specific Wendy's to get chili the next day.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And was like, dude, that's the last place you're going to find a finger in your chili now.

[Josh Clark]

Right? Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

There's no way it would happen again. What are the chances?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, like flying on an airline right after they have a crash, he's like.

[Chuck Bryant]

You go to Burger King, you're going to get a finger.

[Josh Clark]

They're going to purposely give you a finger, man. Don't be naive.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so did you introduce Police Chief Rob Davis yet?

[Josh Clark]

Not yet.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so this is the guy, San Jose police Chief, that would ultimately lead this investigation later on though, after.

[Josh Clark]

Wendy's did a lot of the initial legwork for him.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes, he would lead the investigation. And he basically was like, I gotta find out who this lady is. Because Wendy's, they're operating on the down low here. And this is a sort of a. And apparently this case is taught in classes now about how to handle a crisis as a corporation.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I've seen it criticized. I've also seen it held up as an example of what to do too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I mean, here's what Wendy's can and can't do. What they can do is quietly throw a lot of money at this investigation on their own. And then publicly. What they can't do is start to go after this lady and be too sort of dismissive of this finger. Like, there's no way, lady, this lady's nuts. She's whatever, she's after money. Like, you can't do that as a public facing company. You have to be doing all your due diligence sort of quietly. And they really were.

[Josh Clark]

They really were. So how about this? Dude, let's take a break and then we'll come back and we'll talk about the investigation that Wendy started. How about that?

[Chuck Bryant]

All right.

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[Ed Helms]

Hey everyone, Ed Helms here.

[Chuck Bryant]

And hi, I'm Kal Penn and we're the hosts of Irsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[Ed Helms]

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[Chuck Bryant]

I can see you as Mr. Darcy.

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You got a little Colin Firth.

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[Josh Clark]

All right, Chuck, so like you said, Wendy's can't just be like, that lady's a liar. There's no way that's our finger. They had to basically operate in the background. They couldn't appear like they were obstructing the police investigation. They couldn't appear like they were smearing Anna Ayala, especially because the early reports were very sympathetic to this woman, too. Everybody was very grossed out by this.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

But at the same time, they had to deal with this issue, and they had to get to the bottom of whose finger this was and where the finger came from.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And so the obvious first place to start is the restaurant itself, the employees there. The very obvious first place to start is to see if anyone was missing a finger.

[Josh Clark]

Sure. And that's what they did. They said, show us your hands.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Everyone looked at everyone's fingers. They were all there, and they went, all right, so far, so good. They would eventually put everyone on staff through a polygraph test, which they all passed. They would, obviously. Then they would go to. Up the supply chain.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

To see if this thing might have. Because, you know, these things happened.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Rarely they do, though.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, I found five other cases of fingers in fast food that were.

[Josh Clark]

That were legitimate.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, wow.

[Chuck Bryant]

So it happens up the supply chain. You know, there can be an industrial accident that leaves a finger in a bag of lettuce, greens or something, and that might eventually find its way to a Wendy's superbar.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, my God.

[Chuck Bryant]

You know, it doesn't have been much. I wouldn't be too freaked out.

[Josh Clark]

I'm still freaked out.

[Chuck Bryant]

We'll go over those at the end.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

But they're going up the supply chain. They're really doing their due diligence. They can't find. They offer a reward at first of 50 grand, later, 100 grand.

[Josh Clark]

Well, they set up, yeah, a hotline.

[Chuck Bryant]

For tips, but they're basically, as time is going on, becoming more and more confident that they did not have a finger in that chili by their own fault.

[Josh Clark]

They traced the chili ingredients to seven different suppliers, and they got documentation from all seven suppliers that nobody at their companies had suffered any kind of finger injury at any recent time. And also, like you said, no one at the store. No one at any of the nearby stores had suffered any finger injury, let alone any amputation. And so Wendy's was like this. This didn't come from us. This didn't come from inside our store. And they also. They kind of ran a simultaneous forensic investigation as well. They hired a woman named Dr. Lynn Bates, who's the CEO of a company called Alteca out of Manhattan, Kansas. And if you are looking for evidence or study of a body part that was found in food, you go to Dr. Lynn S. Bates and Alteca because they are. They engage in forensic food microscopy. That's what they do is their. That's their bread and butter is fine. Is studying body parts found in food. And she'd been doing it since 1986. So Wendy's went to her and said, here is a piece of this finger. Was this finger cooked in this chili? Whose finger is it? She's like, I can't tell you whose finger it is, but I can tell you that there is no indication that this finger was cooked for three hours in Chile at 170 degrees. It just wasn't. So that was a. That combined with the. The Wendy's. No, Wendy's employer or supplier's employers missing a finger that told Wendy's everything they needed to know that they were being defrauded.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And you would think just grab a fingerprint police force, and they weren't able to. They weren't able to.

[Josh Clark]

They.

[Chuck Bryant]

They said if they found that, they might could literally look and compare fingerprints. But they didn't get a good enough print off it to do a legitimate database search.

[Josh Clark]

Right, right. They just had to sit around and wait for that hand to show up.

[Chuck Bryant]

Cause that thing had been cooking in chili for three hours.

[Josh Clark]

It had not been cooked in chili for three hours. That's right. At any rate, so Wendy's knew what was going on. Now they had to go to the cops and. And say, we're being defrauded. Not only did they have the search for the missing finger investigation internally, and they hired Lynn Bates to do forensic work on the finger itself. They also hired a detective to start looking around at Anna Ayala. And the detective turned up some very interesting stuff about her.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. He was like, wait a minute. This woman has filed at least 13 civil lawsuits, some against major corporations. And he probably could have stopped there, and Wendy's would have just been like Dave Thomas from the grave would have said, see there? She's no good.

[Josh Clark]

That's a good Dave Thomas impression. Although I think he would have said, like, she should still get the benefit of the doubt.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know, man. When someone is this has a pattern of litigious behaviors like this.

[Josh Clark]

Well, maybe he finished with prove me wrong.

[Chuck Bryant]

One. There were a couple of notable ones that it's sort of frustratingly hard to find information. She claimed that she won a $30,000 settlement from El Pollo Loco from medical bills from her daughter getting sick from salmonella. El Pollo Loco has always been on record saying, never happened. We did not give that lady a dime.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

GM she sued GM because the front wheel of her car came off and there was an accident. And that suit was dismissed with prejudice. When she fired, her lawyer was a no show in court.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, is that what that means?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, no, no. With prejudice means you can't bring it back.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

So you can't. She can't say, well, like, well, I didn't show up and my lawyer was bad, so let's do this again.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, I got you. I got you.

[Chuck Bryant]

So basically, it was dead in the water. So she sued a former employer for sexual harassment. I'm not even gonna comment on that one. Cause I have no idea. That could very well have been legitimate.

[Josh Clark]

That one struck me as possibly legitimate. But she dropped it, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

She lawyered up immediately with the chili finger and everything made Chief Rob Davis very suspicious. And then this guy that lived with her family named Ken. Bono or Bono, what would you say? Bono.

[Josh Clark]

I've been saying Bono. It hasn't even occurred to me. It could be Bono. Maybe he's related to Bono kin.

[Chuck Bryant]

Bono. Because the cops are starting to ask questions at this point. They do official investigations. They search her house. She claims that they held a gun to her head, ransacked her home, and, like, abused her daughter. Which is quite a charge for a finger chilly house investigation.

[Josh Clark]

There's a picture of her and her daughter in the driveway talking to a reporter. And her daughter's got, like, her arm in a sling, but like the kind of sling you just go buy at the. At the drugstore.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So this was a guy who lived. Bono lived with their family. And when he's being investigated by the cops, he said that this finger came from our aunt, Our deceased aunt. It's her finger.

[Josh Clark]

Which is a weird thing to say, especially because Anna Ayala said, all of my aunts are alive. I don't know what this guy's talking about, even though he lives in my house.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. What was he. Was he trying to get Money.

[Josh Clark]

I don't know what.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's the part I can't figure out.

[Josh Clark]

I couldn't find much on that guy. I don't know what the deal was. I also just saw references to a rumor that the media had been reporting on, that it was her dead aunt's finger. So, um, I didn't see how it came from him or what he was trying to do with that. But it's. That was the thing. But that was just kind of like a little side thread that I think also made the cops a little more suspicious, too. Like, that's just a weird thing to say, even jokingly.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. But they did actually get. While it didn't lead to the. Whose finger it was, that tip line did yield some stuff at first. Right.

[Josh Clark]

So, yeah. So like you said, Wendy set up a tip line, a hotline that you could call in, and what they were looking for specifically, ostensibly, was whose finger it was. That's what they wanted, information, the owner of the finger. But they were taking any and all tips that people called in, and they started offering 50 grand, like you said. They later upped it to 100 grand, and it started to yield some tips, like, pretty. Pretty much off the bat. I think the San Jose police and Wendy's is funneling this information to the cops as it comes in, like, as good tips come in. But two very early on came in from what the San Jose police said. There were two different people who supposedly did not know each other, who told very similar stories about how Anna Ayala had told them that she was fleecing Wendy's, that all of this was just a fraud for money to extort money from Wendy's in a lawsuit. So that that combined with all the evidence that Wendy's had gathered that the finger had not come from inside their store. All of Ana Ayala's background, all of that put together, really turned the tide, not just on a police investigation, but also on the media against Ana Ayala. And she had started this. She had created a huge media circus around this issue. Like, she went on Good Morning America, and I could not find it. I think Good Morning America just took.

[Chuck Bryant]

The video down, probably just burned it.

[Josh Clark]

Because she just went on and lied, lied, lied through her teeth about what had happened and just pointed at Wendy's and said, like, these guys screwed up, and this is the most disgusting thing that could happen to somebody, and I'm torn up inside about it, and they should pay on national news about a week after the incident.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So like you said, this is all playing out Pretty quickly, it's all over the news. It's all over late night talk show comedy. Just bad joke after bad joke coming out of Jay Leno's mouth. I won't even repeat the one that Ed included.

[Josh Clark]

I like the Letterman one. Did you see Letterman's.

[Chuck Bryant]

What was his.

[Josh Clark]

She'd been spotted going back at Wendy's and ordering chili again because she was going back to collect all five.

[Chuck Bryant]

See, that's good.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, you gotta give it up for Letterman.

[Chuck Bryant]

What was Leno's. Something about him.

[Josh Clark]

The chili now comes with fingernail clippers. The side of the fingernail clippers.

[Chuck Bryant]

And that really just encapsulates the difference between those two men.

[Josh Clark]

It does.

[Chuck Bryant]

Although they have their joke writers, but.

[Josh Clark]

Still, the love of cars, I think, is also a big differentiator. I don't think Letterman really cares about cars.

[Chuck Bryant]

Shout out to Brian Kiley and Rob Kuttner.

[Josh Clark]

Shout out to the mid-90s Letterman book of top 10 lists that helped shape me as a human being.

[Chuck Bryant]

Brian and Rob are Conan o' Brien's monologue joke writers and have been for many, many years.

[Josh Clark]

Did I tell you? You mean I went to see Conan o' Brien live with Ron Funches and a couple of other people? Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Was that good?

[Josh Clark]

Oh, it was so good. And we actually turned out we were. We were sitting next to a member of the Sysk army throughout the show.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, no way.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. He was like, are you Josh and Yumi? We were like, yeah, he was a good, good guy. Good kid.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yumi was like, I'm Yumi. But that's not Josh.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

He's like, well, that's weird.

[Josh Clark]

I'm suspicious now.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, where were we? All right, it's all over the news. This is all playing out very fast, but the dragnet is sort of closing in thanks to Wendy's investigations, thanks to the cops getting involved, and Ms. Ayala is starting to feel the heat. And like anyone who. And I think the cat's out of the bag now. Right?

[Josh Clark]

I think it was.

[Chuck Bryant]

She put the finger in the chili.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Anytime someone does something like that, it seems like two things happen. They brag to their friends because they're dummies to begin with, and then that net starts to close and it all starts to fall apart.

[Josh Clark]

Right. So her response, and this is a pretty human response, she basically said once the media spotlight went from sympathetic to her to, wait a minute, who are you again? And how do you explain this thing and that thing and all this, she was like, nevermind. Yeah, that's basically what she said. She said, you know, I can't handle this media spotlight or anything anymore, so I'm just gonna drop my suit against Wendy's and we'll just forget all about this.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And Wendy said, no, we're not going to just forget all about this.

[Chuck Bryant]

No.

[Josh Clark]

Let's take a break, shall we? Yeah, we're going to take a break.

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[Ed Helms]

Hey everyone, Ed Helms here and hi.

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm Kal Penn and we're the hosts of Irsay, The Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[Ed Helms]

This week on the podcast I am sitting down with Jenny Garth, host of the iHeart podcast. I choose me to discuss the new Audible adaptation of the timeless Jane Austen Clark classic Pride and Prejudice. This is not a trick question. There's no wrong answer. What role would I play?

[WashablesOfSofas Advertiser]

You know what?

[Chuck Bryant]

I can see you as Mr. Darcy.

[WashablesOfSofas Advertiser]

You got a little Colin Firth.

[Ed Helms]

Okay, that's really sweet. I appreciate that, but are you sure I'm not the dad?

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm not Mr. Bennett here.

[Ed Helms]

Listen to Irsay the Audible and iHeart Audio Book Club on the iHeartradio app or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Josh Clark]

So I can't surely. When Anna Ayala was like, okay, I'm just gonna drop the lawsuit and this will go away, there had to only have been maybe one and a quarter percent of her brain that thought that that was actually going to work, that it was actually gonna go away. She seems, like, street wise and savvy enough to me that she knew it probably wasn't just gonna go away, that that was nothing but hope. Right? I guess I'm curious about that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I don't know, man. But, like, the more that they poke into her private life, then you learn that she and her husband, James Plasencia, had. There was a. And this one's hard to get information on, too. From what I can tell is they sold a trailer, a trailer park trailer that did not belong to them.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. For $11,000. She did. Specifically. I don't know that he was involved. He may have even owned the trailer. But regardless, she did not own the trailer. Sold it to a woman for $11,000. And later on, the woman and her children were evicted from the trailer that they thought they owned, that they didn't own.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes. They also learned that her husband, I guess from a previous marriage, owed a lot of money in child support. And so things are starting to fall into place to where they're like, this lady is always making up stories and suing companies. She's always looking for that get rich angle. Her husband owes a ton of money, 400k. And so this is all sorting. They're starting to finger her, if you will, for this crime. It's the worst pun ever.

[Josh Clark]

I thought we were gonna make it through this, but no. I've even been saying tip line about finger and just fingertips, ignoring it. I know you did, but. Okay, all right, it's done. It's out there.

[Chuck Bryant]

So they finally, like you said, even though she was like, oh, let's just forget about it, they're like, no, no, no, we can't do that. And then there enters a lady that just kind of. And it didn't end up having the hugest impact on the case itself, but it is worth mentioning this woman named Sandy Allman. This is a little strange. So this is a woman who owned exotic cats, big cats, leopards, jaguars, tigers, I think.

[Josh Clark]

Is that how we're saying jaguars now?

[Chuck Bryant]

Jaguar, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Wow.

[Chuck Bryant]

So the Brit says it on the commercial.

[Josh Clark]

Is it a year end sales event up in here?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, the Jaguar X12. So this lady owns these big cats. This is not too far from Vegas, where she lives in Pahrump, Nevada, I guess. Or is it on the California side?

[Josh Clark]

You know, I think it's Nevada.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

I don't know actually, now that you mention it.

[Chuck Bryant]

And she eventually, I guess, has to get rid of these cats and calls in her rescue group that does things like this. They're like, we're a wild animal orphanage and you're a dumb, dumb who bought all these animals you shouldn't have had. So now we will deal with it. And during this transfer of animals, she's attacked by a spotted leopard. And it bites off her finger.

[Josh Clark]

Yes.

[Chuck Bryant]

And she says. She comes forward and says, I think that is my finger.

[Josh Clark]

No, no, I. I think actually a person who is at the wildlife rescue at the time was the one who called the tip line with that one.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I thought because she wanted to take a DNA test and everything.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, I didn't see that. Okay. All right, cool. So she's the one who called and said, that's my finger.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, she wanted. I don't know if she literally picked up the phone and called, but she got involved such that she wanted to take a DNA test to find out if that was her finger.

[Josh Clark]

Gotcha. Okay, cool, cool. Well, yeah, because she had said that the last time she'd seen it, it was on ice in the emergency room. So I guess she wasn't the sentimental type who's like, I want my finger back.

[Chuck Bryant]

Would you.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Float it in some formaldehyde.

[Josh Clark]

Yumi would probably have that thing gilded and wear it around her neck. Oh, yeah. I'd be like, that's my finger on Yumi's neck. Check it out. But. So the whole thing was just a red herring, though, a blind alley. Right. Like, it went nowhere.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, it was not her finger.

[Josh Clark]

No, there were some other tips that came in about the finger. The Mexican authorities, I guess, just over the border, got involved because it was rumored that an incident with a ranch hand losing a finger in Mexico had been the source of the finger, as. Even as Ana Ayala, who, by the way, that whole tip about the trailer sale, the trailer scam that came in From Wendy's hotline as well.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, really?

[Josh Clark]

By this time, I believe it was day 22. No, I'm sorry, it was day 30. 32, I believe. About a month after the. The incident originally happened. Ana Ayala and Jamie Palencia, her husband, were both arrested in Las Vegas. Him for the child support payments, failure to pay child support, her for that trailer scam. And so while they're on ice in Las Vegas, Wendy's is still conducting this investigation. San Jose are still conducting this investigation. And they've got them. They have them on this other stuff, but I guess they just kind of kept him from running, and that's why they arrested him, knowing that they were eventually going to build the case. I'm not sure, but that's exactly what happened. Because I think about 52 days after she walked into that Wendy's and put the finger in the chili and took that bite. They. They charged them for grand theft, for bas. Defrauding Wendy's.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And at this point, as far as the police were concerned, they're like, we don't even need to know whose finger this is at this point.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Like that. That's really immaterial. But Wendy's, they still have a public relations crisis going on, and they're like, we really would like to find out where this finger came from. Just so, like, as many facts out there as possible will really help us restore our good name.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

If we can actually pinpoint whose finger this is and exactly how this happened and let everybody know what went on.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So they actually. That's when they up the reward from 50,000 to 100,000, right?

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

And that's when they hit the jackpot, which is, ironically, they got two callers on the $100,000 line. Go ahead, caller.

[Chuck Bryant]

You're on the $100,000 chili finger line.

[Josh Clark]

Right. And then for the next 30 seconds, like, hello, am I on? Can you hear me?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yes, you're on. You're on. Go ahead. Go ahead, call her.

[Josh Clark]

Am I live right now? Two people called. One to this day, as far as I can tell, has remained anonymous. The other one was a guy named Mike Casey. And Mike Casey owned a company called Lamb Asphalt out of Las Vegas, Nevada. And he happened to be the employer of Jamie Plezencia.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

And he said, it's weird because you arrested one of my employees, one of my longtime employees for this scam. And I also have another employee named Brian Rossiter who lost a finger not too long ago, and I think they might be Connected. I think that might be Brian Rossiter's finger.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And that's how the whole thing finally came crashing down, because they got a hold of Brian Rossiter. They got a. They gave him a DNA test. They matched it to the DNA taken from the finger, and they said it's Brian Rossiter's finger. Brian Rossiter worked with Jamie Plezencia. Jamie Plasencia was married to Anna Ayala. Ana Ayala found a finger in her chili. Ipso facto. Something's rotten in Denmark, and that's how it stands.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, and it's even a little weirder when you find out the details. So Brian is at work. Someone slams the tailgate of the truck on his hand, cuts an inch and a half off of his finger.

[Josh Clark]

Can you imagine?

[Chuck Bryant]

No, dude, no. Cuts off his finger. And it's funny, too, because Ed points out, instead of, like, driving to the hospital, which is what any normal person would have done, he had owed Placentia some money. Placentia. And this is a man, a husband of a woman who seems like they're both always looking to scam somebody.

[Josh Clark]

They're looking for the angle.

[Chuck Bryant]

He sees this finger, and he goes, hey, you owe me money. Some people say it was 50 bucks. We don't know for sure.

[Josh Clark]

I saw 100 almost everywhere.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, so let's say it's 100, okay? He's like, you give me that finger, and we'll just call it square. And not only that, my friend, but if you ever hear about this finger in the news, keep it quiet, and I will give you a quarter of a million dollars at some point in the future. Yep.

[Josh Clark]

That's what they call the carrot. And the other carrot.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So he said, just drip some blood on this roof shingle, and that will be our contract.

[Josh Clark]

Right? Right. Right. Just sign X with your stub. Your bloody stub.

[Chuck Bryant]

This old used roof shingle.

[Josh Clark]

I saw. Actually, I saw that he did go to the hospital and came back to the work site with his amputated finger. And that's what Jamie Plessensia was like.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hey, hey, I'm sure he did.

[Josh Clark]

What are you gonna do with that?

[Chuck Bryant]

Any sense at all?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

That he would just be like, wait a minute.

[Josh Clark]

So they. So. So Brian Rossiter gives him his finger, and that's where the whole thing began just a couple months before. Right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And I think. Didn't. Didn't Rossiter himself also call the tip line?

[Josh Clark]

I didn't see that anywhere.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay. I heard he called the tip line himself because he knew at this point he was getting no money out of the scam, so he thought, let me try and get this hundred grand at least.

[Josh Clark]

Right?

[Chuck Bryant]

And Wendy's never would cop to whether or not he got any tip line money.

[Josh Clark]

Right? And so Mike Casey, the guy who from all. From everything that it seems, he was innocent of this, he just happened to put two and two together because he knew the guys, he said originally, hey, you know, my asphalt company maintains the lots of a few Wendy's around here. And they've always been good to me, so I wanted to help out. That was an article in May, an article in September is Mike Casey saying, you know, Wendy's never paid me that money for the hotline. So I don't know if he ever got it. But from what I saw, he was going to have to split it with the one other anonymous caller. I don't know if that was Brian Rossiter or not. Maybe Brian Rossiter was scared that Jamie Pleasancia might do something if he found out that he had been. He had tipped him off or what. But supposedly Mike Casey and this anonymous caller were going to split that hundred grand. So whether Wendy's actually paid that money or not, that remains to be seen. I don't know. I didn't see that anywhere.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, in the end, Ayala and her husband, she got sentenced to nine years, he got sentenced to 12, because I think they piled on him for the. Probably child support, right? Or was it the trailer scam?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, no, he got three and a third years for the child support thing.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay. I don't know how long he actually served. I think she only served about four of that. Nine. She later revealed some more details, including that she did cook the finger. So apparently it wasn't a raw finger, nor though was it cooked in 170 degree chili for three hours, but it was cooked a little bit. I think she just literally probably put it in a pan and was thinking like, oh, wait a minute, I bet they didn't think I would think of this.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And cooked up the finger a little bit.

[Josh Clark]

One thing that she didn't think of though, Chuck, was she didn't bite the finger. And they found out pretty quickly through forensic investigation that there was no bite in the finger, nor did she throw.

[Chuck Bryant]

Up in the restaurant like she said she did because there were people in the restaurant that were like, no, she didn't vomit that I saw. And employees were like, no, she didn't throw up that I saw.

[Josh Clark]

Her father in law and mother in law both said that they saw her throw up, but yeah. There was no evidence of vomit anywhere in the bathroom or around her table or anything.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And they did a pretty bad job.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they did. I was gonna use a nasty word to characterize it, but I. It's the family show, so.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, these are the worst kind of people, man. These litigious, like, just like, work for your money, man. Going around suing corporations.

[Josh Clark]

I know. So Mad Wendy's supposedly lost $2.5 million in verifiable lost money. They had to cut people's hours. This is another thing that kind of gets left off a lot. They had to cut the hours of the employees in the Bay Area in particular, because there was such little foot traffic coming through their stores. So when they were convicted and sentenced, Jamie Plessencia and Anna Ayala were sentenced to pay back 170,000 plus dollars in lost wages to the Wendy's employees. Oh, and they were also ordered to pay 500,000 to JEM Management, who owned the Wendy's. And then like another. Another substantial amount to Wendy's if. If they ever profited from the crime, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

Bad people. She was banned from Wendy's, which. I don't know how you enforce that.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I was wondering that myself, actually. It seems like I don't know if there's every Wendy's has a picture of her or something like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

I know at sports stadiums they do that when people are banned. And that is a little more enforceable because, like, you can literally just have everyone be aware of that person. That's like checking tickets and things. But you can't. How can you keep someone from coming into any Wendy's anywhere?

[Josh Clark]

I don't know. They can try. At least they can send a message by saying, you can't come here any longer.

[Chuck Bryant]

Arby's Two Fingers, 2004. 2012. No Coles. Frozen Custard in Wilmington, North Carolina. Finger, 2005.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, man.

[Chuck Bryant]

TGI Friday's hamburger had a finger in 2006.

[Josh Clark]

Wow.

[Chuck Bryant]

And those were all verified and they found, you know, like it was in the supply chain, like someone lost a finger and it got mixed in. And it's very. Just very unfortunate. I'm sure there was quiet settlements on those.

[Josh Clark]

I'm sure, too. That's bizarre. I had no idea that that happened. I thought it was almost always either a case of mistaken identity or a hoax. I didn't realize that actually really happened, you know?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Well, that's the Wendy's chili finger caper. If you ever wanted to know about it, now you do. And we're Glad that you do. And we're glad we were the ones that told you. If you want to know more about it, go read contemporary articles at the time. It's awesome just to see something like that unfold. It's so cool. And since I said that, it's time for listener mail.

[Chuck Bryant]

And hey, shout out to Wendy's. I'm sure I don't know if they like people still talking about this or not, but they did not put a finger in anyone's chili.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, good point.

[Chuck Bryant]

Make that clear.

[Josh Clark]

Good point.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, I'm gonna call this Adidas Puma. Hey, guys, just finished listening to the feud between Adi and Rudi Dassler. Wanted to say I really enjoyed it. My dad is actually from Herzogenrauch. We were an Adidas family through and through. And my godmother, Aunt Helga worked for Adidas as an administrative assistant for years. In addition to this, I almost jumped out of my seat when you mentioned the mayor of Herzl. You spoke of Dr. German Haakar and how he reft a soccer match wearing one Adidas shoe and one Puma. My Uncle Hans was the mayor right before Hawker was.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, cool.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I knew you wouldn't be referring to him because he wouldn't have been caught dead in even one Puma because of my aunt's work at the opposing shop. I didn't wear Puma gear myself until I was grown and could buy it myself. And my entire German family called me a traitor. And this was in the early 2000s, so the tension is still real. I'm sure it was lighthearted at least.

[Josh Clark]

I hope it was okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

In any case, I just want to let you know your research was spot on. Really love hearing about something I knew a little bit about. By the way, I also use your show in my classroom teaching 12th grade government in civics and the kids love it.

[Josh Clark]

Nice.

[Chuck Bryant]

So shout out to Jennifer Wesner Gajou at Thompson Stations, Tennessee and your senior government class.

[Josh Clark]

Well, thank you, Ms. Gigoto and class.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's probably not pronounced right.

[Josh Clark]

Gaucho.

[Chuck Bryant]

I have no idea.

[Josh Clark]

Gaucho. Gnev. Yeah, Gancho Ganev. That's what it is. If you want to get in touch with us to say hi about an old episode or for whatever reason, you can go on to stuffyouchouchouchouknow.com check out our social media links and you can also send us an email to Stuff podcast at iheartradio. Com.

[Ed Helms]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio.

[Chuck Bryant]

For more podcasts. My Heart Radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[Ed Helms]

Hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this fall. Take care of the little ones in the family with Baby Club Savings now through November 4th. Spend $25 on select Baby Club products and save $5. Shop for items like Pediasure bottles, Pedialyte powder packs, Huggies baby wipes, Huggies diapers, Gerber Puffs and Gerber pouches. And save $5 when you buy $25 or more on participating products. Offer ends November 4th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hey, what's up? It's Mario Lopez.

[Ed Helms]

Back to school is an exciting time, but it can also be overwhelming and kids may feel isolated. Vulnerability that can exploit Human trafficking doesn't always look like what you expect. Everyday moments can become opportunities for someone with bad intentions. Whether you're a parent, teacher, coach or neighbor, check in, ask questions, stay connected. Blue Campaign is a national awareness initiative that provides resources to help recognize suspected instances of human trafficking. Learn the signs and how to [e-mail] blue campaign.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hey audiobook lovers, I'm Kal Penn.

[Ed Helms]

I'm Ed Helms.

[Chuck Bryant]

Ed and I are inviting you to join the best sounding book club you've ever heard with our new podcast, Earsay, the Audible and iHeart Audiobook Club.

[Ed Helms]

Each week we sit down with your favorite iHeart podcast hosts and some very special guests to discuss the latest and greatest audiobooks from audible.

[Chuck Bryant]

Listen to Earsay on America's number one podcast network, iHeartra Heart. Follow Earsay and start listening on the free iHeartradio app today.

[Josh Clark]

This is an iHeart podcast.