World Cup of Crisps


The World Cup of Crisps is an unofficial national competition that takes place every four years on the social media network Twitter to determine the United Kingdom's favourite brand and flavour of crisps. The competition was created, organised and hosted by TV host Richard Osman, and the inaugural competition took place in February and March 2012.

History

The World Cup of Crisps was originally conceived on social media by Osman in January 2012, and took place following a break in filming of Osman's TV gameshow Pointless. The inaugural edition had 32 types of crisp, with eight group winners qualifying for the quarter-finals, and the competition progressing further using a knockout system. Votes were cast on Twitter using the hashtag '#wcocr'. The second edition was expanded to include 48 types of crisp and three group stages before semi-finals and a final, and votes were cast using Twitter's new poll feature.

Results

2012 World Cup of Crisps

Due to the lack of Twitter polls, no official numbers of votes were revealed in the first edition of the World Cup of Crisps.

Group Stages

Entries in bold denote crisps that qualified for the knockout stages.
Group AGroup BGroup CGroup D
Walkers Roast ChickenGolden Wonder Salt & VinegarWalkers Ready SaltedBrannigans Beef & Mustard
Discos Salt & VinegarDoritos Cool OriginalNik Naks SpicyFrench Fries Worcester Sauce
Scampi FriesMonster Munch Pickled OnionChipsticks Salt & VinegarSkips
Seabrooks Sea SaltSpace Raiders BeefMcCoy's SteakFrisps Salt & Vinegar

Knockout Stage

2016 World Cup of Crisps

The second edition began on Saturday 26 March and is set to conclude on Monday 28 March. The new Twitter poll feature automatically tallied the results, and during the semi-finals over one million votes had been cast.

First Group Stage

The 48 crisps were drawn into twelve groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the second group stage. Bold indicates crisps that qualified.
Group 1
Crisp% Received
Walkers Salt & Vinegar28
Hula Hoops Ready Salted28
Doritos Tangy Cheese26
Scampi Fries18

Group 2
Crisp% Received
Monster Munch Pickled Onion38
Pringles Sour Cream & Chive37
Burton's Fish & Chips13
Golden Wonder Cheese & Onion12

Group 3
Crisp% Received
Wotsits34
Pom-Bear23
Tyrells Salt & Vinegar22
Walkers Roast Chicken21

Group 4
Crisp% Received
Chipsticks27
Walkers Smoky Bacon26
Taytos Cheese & Onion26
Space Raiders Pickled Onion21

Due to the tie between Walkers Smoky Bacon and Taytos Cheese & Onion, a 10-minute tiebreak poll was conducted, with Walkers defeating Taytos by 51% to 49%.
Group 5
Crisp% Received
Skips40
McCoy's Steak38
Seabrooks Sea Salt15
Golden Wonder Salt & Vinegar7

Group 6
Crisp% Received
Walkers Sensations Sweet Chilli30
Walkers Cheese & Onion28
Pringles BBQ21
Smith's Square Chips Salt & Vinegar21

Group 7
Crisp% Received
Doritos Cool Original31
Frazzles30
French Fries Salt & Vinegar22
Branningans Beef & Mustard17

Group 8
Crisp% Received
Walkers Ready Salted30
Monster Munch Roast Beef29
Kettle Chips Salt & Vinegar29
Spicy Tomato Snaps12

Group 9
Crisp% Received
McCoy's Salt & Vinegar33
Monster Munch Flamin' Hot31
Kettle Chips Salt & Pepper27
Pop Chips BBQ9

Group 10
Crisp% Received
Doritos Chilli Heatwave27
Wheat Crunchies Bacon26
Walkers Prawn Cocktail25
Discos Salt & Vinegar22

Group 11
Crisp% Received
Mini Cheddars39
Hula Hoops Salt & Vinegar32
Roysters T-Bone23
Mackie's Haggis6

Group 12
Crisp% Received
Quavers39
Nik Naks Nice & Spicy30
Pringles Salt & Vinegar26
Golden Wonder Ready Salted9

Second Group Stage

The 24 remaining crisps were then re-drawn into six groups of four, with the top two qualifying for a third group stage. Bold indicates crisps that qualified.
Group 1
Crisp% Received
Monster Munch Pickled Onion33
Hula Hoops Ready Salted24
Chipsticks22
Walkers Smoky Bacon21

Group 2
Crisp% Received
Wotsits27
McCoy's Steak27
Pringles Sour Cream & Chive26
Doritos Cool Original20

Group 3
Crisp% Received
Walkers Sweet Chilli Sensations28
Quavers27
Walkers Salt & Vinegar26
Wheat Crunchies Bacon19

Group 4
Crisp% Received
Skips28
McCoy's Salt & Vinegar27
Monster Munch Flamin' Hot23
Pom-Bear22

Group 5
Crisp% Received
Frazzles28
Nik Naks Nice & Spicy27
Walkers Ready Salted24
Hula Hoops Salt & Vinegar21

Group 6
Crisp% Received
Doritos Chilli Heatwave27
Walkers Cheese & Onion27
Mini Cheddars24
Monster Munch Roast Beef22

Quarter-Final Stage

The 12 remaining crisps were then drawn into four groups of three, with just the group winners progressing to the semi-finals. Bold indicates crisps that proceeded.
Quarter-Final 1
Crisp% Received
Monster Munch Pickled Onion42
Skips31
McCoy's Salt & Vinegar27

Quarter-Final 2
Crisp% Received
Quavers36
Frazzles32
Nik Naks Nice & Spicy32

This result saw defending champions Frazzles eliminated.
Quarter-Final 3
Crisp% Received
Walkers Cheese & Onion40
Walkers Sensations Sweet Chilli34
Doritos Chilli Heatwave26

Quarter-Final 4
Crisp% Received
Wotsits36
McCoy's Steak35
Hula Hoops Ready Salted29

Knockout Stages

Charity

A number of bookmakers started taking bets on the inaugural World Cup of Crisps, and during the second edition, Betfair decided they would donate all losing bets to the Child's i Foundation. By the end of the tournament, they had managed to donate £7,500 worth of losing bets to the charity.

Controversy

During and after the second edition of the event, several voters became disillusioned with the choice of crisps on offer. A debate began to emerge on the definition of crisp, with three of the four semi-finalists, Wotsits, Monster Munch and Quavers, as well as the 2012 winners Frazzles, being criticised for not actually conforming to the definition of crisp. These opinions were shut down by Osman, who urged critics to 'organise own World Cup.'