A man in the US has gone viral after capturing the oddly satisfying moment frozen soft drink bottles quite literally pop in sub-zero weather — and Australians are loving it for more than one reason.
The video, filmed on December 30, shows Matthew Thomas Jones, 60, walking past stacks of Coca-Cola bottles left outside a grocery store in Glen Ellyn during an extreme cold snap.
Just as Jones explains that the drink is freezing, one bottle erupts on cue, delivering a perfectly timed pop that feels straight out of a comedy sketch.
@mattjones4017 #cold #pop #exploding #chicago ♬ original sound – Matt Thomas
“It’s so cold here right now that the pop is freezing and exploding,” he says in the clip, moments before another bottle bursts behind him.
Jones later explained that the temperature was hovering around 10 degrees Fahrenheit (around –12°C), possibly colder overnight. He originally filmed the moment to send to his godson in Australia as a quick Snapchat — but was encouraged to share it more widely.
That suggestion paid off. After uploading the clip to TikTok, it quickly took off, pulling in more than two million views in under a week.
“I never expected anything like this,” Jones told Newsweek. “I thought a few people might find it interesting — not millions.”
The Real Explosion? The Comments Section
While the frozen bottles did their thing, the comments quickly turned into something else entirely: a global argument over what the drink should actually be called.
Australians were quick to weigh in, insisting it’s a soft drink, while others argued fiercely for pop, soda or fizzy. Canadians chimed in, the Brits made their presence known, and people from Finland, South Africa and beyond added their own versions.
Some viewers pointed out that “pop” suddenly made perfect sense given what was happening on screen. Others joked that it was no longer a soft drink at all, with plenty suggesting it had officially become a hard one.
A few highlights included:
- Australians firmly backing “soft drink”
- Canadians defending “pop”
- Brits and Aussies reminiscing about calling it “fizzy” as kids
- South Africans casually dropping “cooldrink”
- And several people agreeing it doesn’t matter — especially when it’s exploding
One commenter summed it up perfectly: “It’s called pop right now because it’s literally popping.”
Between the flawless timing, the extreme weather and the unexpectedly funny language debate, the video has become one of those rare internet moments that feels both oddly wholesome and globally relatable.
Call it pop, soda, fizzy or soft drink — when it’s that cold, everyone agrees on one thing: it’s not staying sealed for long.
