{"id":2234407,"date":"2026-01-14T13:07:46","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2234407"},"modified":"2026-01-14T13:07:46","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T13:07:46","slug":"exclusive-gen-zer-eats-up-to-100-live-bugs-a-day-enjoys-their-tongue-massage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/exclusive-gen-zer-eats-up-to-100-live-bugs-a-day-enjoys-their-tongue-massage\/","title":{"rendered":"Exclusive | Gen Zer eats up to 100 live bugs a day, enjoys their tongue &#8216;massage&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/wp-content%2Fuploads%2Fsites%2F2%2F2026%2F01%2F118796294.jpg?quality%3D90%26strip%3Dall\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Imagine a low-calorie, protein-packed noodle that evokes the butteriness of French cheeses.<\/p>\n<p>The good news is that you don\u2019t need to book a table at a buzzy new bistro to try it. This earthy delicacy is served in a brown paper bag \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t really put up a fight.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMealworms [are] a contender for, like, one of my most favorite insects,\u201d a Chicago-area resident named Carlos declares before slurping down a handful.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAnd my favorite thing about them is the flavor. It\u2019s a lot like buttered popcorn.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>A Gen Zer from Chicago demonstrates his obsession with eating live mealworms and cockroaches on Wednesday\u2019s episode of \u201cMy Strange Addiction.\u201d <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of TLC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>If you haven\u2019t gagged yet \u2014 brace yourself! Carlos, 26, scarfs down heaps of live mealworms and roaches on Wednesday\u2019s episode of TLC\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/07\/health\/eating-2-pounds-of-raw-meat-a-day-led-to-bizarre-infection\/\">\u201cMy Strange Addiction.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>In an exclusive preview clip provided to The Post, Carlos likens crickets to a veggie delight.<\/p>\n<p>He also swears that the insides of cockroaches \u201ctaste like custard.\u201d And even worse \u2014 he loves the way creepy-crawlies \u201cswarm\u201d his mouth, \u201cmassage\u201d his tongue and \u201ctickle\u201d his throat.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module aligncenter wp-block-nypost-editor-primary-tag\">\n<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cWhen it, like, squiggles around your mouth, very rewarding. You don\u2019t get that from any other kind of food, I guarantee you,\u201d Carlos said.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos is unemployed but livin\u2019 his pest life, as his partner and the mother of his infant daughter frets that he is risking his health and frittering away their savings.<\/p>\n<p>Just because these insects are found in dirt doesn\u2019t make them dirt cheap. Carlos is shown in the episode shelling out $8 for a mealworm-roach mix at a reptile specialty store.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I first found out about Carlos\u2019s bugging, I thought it was, I guess, cute,\u201d partner Ashley said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut as time has gone on, it\u2019s become evident that it\u2019s a major crutch for him.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Ashley (middle) is not happy with partner Carlos\u2019 insectivore ways. They have a young daughter. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of TLC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Carlos said he caught the bug as a little boy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAt a very young age, I always had a curiosity about eating them,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy earliest memory as a child was when I was like 4 years old, and I was eating bugs at that age.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Now, Carlos is devouring up to 100 live bugs a day. \u201cMy Strange Addiction\u201d producers helpfully note that\u2019s 30,000 insects a year or roughly the weight of a Thanksgiving turkey. Heart-worming, indeed.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>It\u2019s tough to say exactly why Carlos eats live bugs. Some of it appears to be a need for control.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I eat and chew live bugs, it makes me feel like I am the master of their destiny,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m pretty animalistic and primal about it,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos acknowledged that \u201cchanneling [his] inner predator\u201d may not be \u201cfair to the bug, but it does taste pretty good.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ento-terrorism aside, Carlos finds his cravings the most powerful \u201cin times of crisis.\u201d Perhaps that\u2019s why he enjoys the struggle.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like to \u2026 chomp the head,\u201d he said as a creature pinched the inside of his mouth.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI like a certain boldness and intensity in my food. I don\u2019t know why I like it, but I do.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But Ashley isn\u2019t thrilled, so now it\u2019s crunch time.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos visited an alternative medicine clinic in Wisconsin to find out if there are any health downsides to creepin\u2019 it real.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"nyp-slideshow-modal-image wp-block-image aligncenter size-large\"><figcaption>Despite the health risks, Carlos isn\u2019t interested in extinguishing bugs from his diet. <span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of TLC<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>He tried to convince nurse practitioner Nanette Cambronero that his arthropod addiction is A-OK because <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-024-55603-7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">over 70% of the world\u2019s nations consume insects<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn some cultures, eating bugs is accepted, but the big difference is live bugs are gutted and they\u2019re cooked,\u201d Cambronero replied.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"single__inline-module alignright\">\n\t<\/aside>\n<p>\u201cThe problem is when you eat these bugs live, you are contaminating your body with active live parasitic and bacterial infections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Cambronero said that toxins from bugs can seep into the bloodstream, potentially causing multi-organ failure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are studies that show that parasitic infections can even travel to the brain and basically eat at your brain tissue and contribute to chronic diseases that resemble early dementia,\u201d Cambronero said.<\/p>\n<p>She suggested eating dead bugs instead of live ones and <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2023\/04\/17\/nicolas-cage-claims-he-ate-live-cockroaches-for-film-never-do-that-again\/\">avoiding cockroaches<\/a>, which can carry and transmit harmful bacteria.<\/p>\n<p>Though he seemed otherwise healthy, Carlos noted that he does experience heart palpitations sometimes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI had no idea the full extent of damage that it could potentially cause. I do want to change, but I also really like eating bugs,\u201d he admitted.<\/p>\n<p>Carlos later told The Post that he is no longer subsisting on grubs for grub.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve cut back significantly since filming,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a contained period of my life, and while traces of it remain, it\u2019s no\u00a0longer something I engage with intentionally.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cMy Strange Addiction\u201d airs Wednesdays at 9 p.m. ET\/PT on TLC<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><em> \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n<p><em> \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source celebrity.land \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imagine a low-calorie, protein-packed noodle that evokes the butteriness of French cheeses. The good news is that you don\u2019t need to book a table at a buzzy new bistro to try it. This earthy delicacy is served in a brown paper bag \u2014 and it doesn\u2019t really put up a fight. \u201cMealworms [are] a contender [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2234408,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25174],"tags":[358258,406029,25404,306499,22271,357967,432288,43770,407656,21913,356927],"class_list":["post-2234407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gossip","tag-addiction","tag-bacteria","tag-exclusive","tag-food-drink","tag-health","tag-infections","tag-insects","tag-tlc","tag-toxic","tag-tv","tag-weird-but-true"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Exclusive-Gen-Zer-eats-up-to-100-live-bugs.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2234407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2234409,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2234407\/revisions\/2234409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2234408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2234407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2234407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2234407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}