A picture of a large snake and a snorkeler showed up in an online advertisement that read, “Chilling Unedited Nature Photos Ever Captured.”

Claim – A picture shows a snorkeler right next to a very large snake, known as an anaconda.

Is the snake and snorkeler photo in online advertisement is real?

It is true that this photograph of a snorkeler and a very large snake, an anaconda, is real. We discover that it was being used in YouTube video thumbnails and also appeared in online advertisements in May 2022 with the caption, “Chilling Unedited Nature Photos Ever Captured.” A variation of the ad read, “Jarring Photos That Will Show You Another Side Of Nature.” However, after clicking the ad we were led to a 60-page slideshow article that did not even mention the picture.

Who took the photograph of the snake and snorkeler? Does the picture show a movie being filmed? Is it a fake snake? We tried to find out.

And after digging through rounds of unhelpful websites and other misleading clickbait, the TinEye.com reverse image search website led us to conclude that the snorkeler is named Franco Banfi.

The picture, which was credited to Shaowen Lyn, was posted to Banfi’s Facebook page in 2015 and had been captured several years before that. It showed a Green Anaconda  in Brazil:

In the comments, the snorkeler Banfi, the person answering as the page reassured users that while the green anaconda was quite big, it wasn’t believed to be a danger since it had recently fed. “The green anaconda eats only three to four times per year and it is mostly a shy creature,” the page replied. “It does not attack humans on purpose.”

We found two other pictures of the green anaconda on Banfi’s Facebook page.

The first one showed a photograph being taken:

The second one showed a close-up view of a green anaconda‘s head

Additional information was found in an old article from The Sun that was dated back Nov. 10, 2012. The same picture from the ad was captioned as follows:

A DIVER risks his life to get close to a 26ft anaconda as it emerges from a river.

Franco Banfi, 53, looking for snakes in Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, was pretty sure it was safe as it had just eaten.

He just hoped it didn’t fancy any afters…

In addition, we located additional pictures of the green anaconda on Banfi’s website, WildlifePhotoTours.ch. They appear at the very bottom of the gallery page as part of the VIP tour offerings.

In conclusion, true, the picture of the snorkeler and the large snake, which turned out to be a green anaconda in Brazil, was genuine.

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Pink, fuzzy bananas are real. Pink, fuzzy bananas that contain hard seeds are mostly grown for decoration but when eaten are sweet and soft. Even the U.S. Department of Agricultural recognizes one of their nicknames: hairy bananas.

The Twitter account Unbelievable Facts highlighted the existence of this fruit, posting the below-displayed image and text that promoted not only the bananas’ colour and texture, but also its purpose.

Next, there’s another post’s assertions about the banana’s appearance: that it’s pink, fuzzy, and peels on its own.

These are true, according to an arm of the Department of Horticultural Science at North Carolina State University.

Nicknamed the “hairy banana” or “pink velvet banana,” the fruit (scientific name: Musa velutina) belongs to the banana family of plants, Musaceae and produces fruits that are about three inches long, pink, and fuzzy. “They peel back when ripe,” according to the plant’s profile in a database operated by the university.

It is also true that the plants are mostly grown for decoration, rather than for eating, according to the profile, which indeed described them as “ornamental” and “showy.”

However, if someone did try to eat the bananas, they would indeed taste a soft, sweet fruit with hard seeds, as the post claimed. “Fruits have soft, sweet flesh that can be eaten but the numerous seeds are very hard,” the profile said.

Likewise, “blue java bananas” — which have an outer blue skin and taste like vanilla ice cream — belong to the same family of plants.

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Another strange rumour that was displayed in online advertisements.

A strange online advertisement in February 2022, that showed Coke being poured out of a bottle onto a car tire and rim with the caption: “Always Place Coca-Cola On Your Wheels When Traveling Alone, Here’s Why.

The ad appears on several news websites alongside legitimate news stories. This may have led some readers to believe that this was a real and genuine tip that “always” needed to be done, perhaps for a safety reason.

When you clicked the ad, it led to an 81-page slideshow article on a website called Beach Raider. The headline read: “Simple And Affordable Car Hacks Every Car Owner Should Know.” On page 81, the Coke bottle wheels tip will show up:

Clean Your Wheels With Coke

You’ve probably heard the expression “use Coke to clean this” a million times, but a cola and dish detergent combination can remove all of the road dirt and brake dust from your rims and leave them shining. Some people worry that the soda would make things stickier, but the detergent you use prevents accumulation.

In fact, we did find several YouTube videos that purported to show that Coke and dish detergent could be used to clean car tires, just as page 81 said.

However, the ad was false and misleading in that it claimed drivers should “always place Coca-Cola on your wheels when traveling alone.” It never explained this because it was nothing more than nonsensical clickbait.

You might be wondering what was in the rest of the 81-page article. One tip we looked at said to use olive oil and a coffee filter on your car’s dashboard to keep it clean. Our initial thought was that this might make your car smell like an Italian dinner.

However, to our surprise, Allstate Insurance Company recommended this same tip in a video on their YouTube channel:

Allstate Insurance Company. How to Clean Your Car’s Dashboard With a Coffee Filter and Olive Oil | Allstate Insurance. 2019,

In conclusion, no, drivers do not need to “always” or really ever “place” or pour Coke on their tires and rims (or wheels) when traveling anywhere. Advertisers can apparently be fairly inventive with their clickbait these days. We rate this as FALSE. We are just glad and hope that readers do not have to click through all 81 of those pages.

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