A mum has been left “fuming” after her elderly cat mistook the snowy Elf On The Shelf scene she created for her kids for a litter tray.
As many parents up and down the country will know, unique and exciting ‘Elf on the Shelf’ ideas can be quite hard to come by, but mum-of-two Katie Wright hatched the brilliant plan to create a snow angel scene by simply spreading sugar across the kitchen worktops and placing the mischievous elf in the middle to surprise her children.
But they ended up with a little more of a surprise than they were expecting.
It turns out the Elf On The Shelf wasn’t quite as mischievous as the family cat Tilly though, who mistook the sugar for her litter tray and left a poo on the worktop, leaving Katie and the kids to come downstairs to an “overpowering smell” in the morning.
Katie might not have quite seen the funny side of it all, explaining that she was “fuming” her Elf on the Shelf plans didn’t work out, but thousands of people on social media certainly got a laugh out of it.
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After taking to Facebook to share some rather grim photographic evidence of the ‘surprise’ left by the cat, Katie’s post has since gone on to amass well over 25K interactions, and thousands of shares and comments by people all across the globe who were entertained and disgusted by the incident both at the same time.
Speaking to The Sun about the unfortunate event, 34-year-old Katie – who is mum to Oscar, four and Kiera, two – said: “It’s only my first year doing the elf as my eldest is only just four,”
“Oscar has really enjoyed it though and we’ve taken it easy knowing we probably have a decade of elf placements ahead of us. So when I saw online someone do the snow angel elf, I thought that would be nice and easy.
“It only took five minutes so I took a picture and headed off to bed.
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“In the morning Oscar came running into my room asking to find the elf and raced downstairs, but the minute we walked through the dining room, the smell was over powering. My first thought wasn’t that is was anything to do with the elf – I picked Oscar up, worried we were about to step in something.”
Katie explained she finally found the source of the smell and burst into hysterical laughter.
“The smell got stronger and I saw it… a giant poo with the elf,” she said.
“I screamed but my son luckily just laughed and shouted ‘poo on the kitchen.’ I was a bit frantic [and] I knew Kiera was on her way in and there was a giant poo to keep them away from, so I was flapping a bit and all of a sudden the cat jumped back up and started shuffling the sugar and I thought ‘oh god she’s going to wee too’, so I chased her out the cat flap and suddenly burst into hysterical laughter.
“Oscar thought I was crying and started saying ‘it’s ok mum’.”
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Katie Wright / Caters News Agency
Not expecting the post to go viral social media, Katie said: “I posted online and it went mad. I suppose it is funny – it looks as though my Elf on the Shelf for the day was a giant poo.
“Not exactly mother of the year as I had to swear Oscar to secrecy when he went to school later that day.
“Tilly, our cat is a diva – she’s really not liking of human company.
“She was ok and would accept the odd cuddle pre-children, but she’s really never forgiven us for having the children. It didn’t help that we’ve been renovating this big house and have just moved in so she’s had a litter tray for a month.
“She was probably just desperate and really, she’s just an old lady that wants to be left alone.”
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James Acaster reveals eerie song all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable
Emily Sergeant
James Acaster has revealed the eerie (and pretty surprising) song that all Traitors contestants are forced to listen to before every roundtable.
In case you’ve been living comfortably under a rock, you’ll probably be aware that comedian James Acaster is currently a contestant on this current season of BBC‘s smash-hit reality TV competition show, The Celebrity Traitors – a show that viewers in their millions are tuning into each week, with some big names on the cast.
Acaster is currently (spoiler alert… but it shouldn’t be at this point, we are several weeks in after all) one of three Traitors competing on the show, and he’s doing a pretty good job at it.
But we wonder how much of his success can be put down to the producers’ love of a certain song they like to play before every roundtable? Probably next to none, but it’s surprising to find out how much of an integral role the tune plays though.
The song we’re referring to here, it has been revealed, is ‘The Hanging Tree’ – a folk ballad made popular by The Hunger Games.
‘The Hanging Tree’, composed by James Newton Howard and Suzanne Collins, was famously sung by Jennifer Lawrence’s character Katniss Everdeen in the third instalment of the film franchise, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.
The lyrics are as follows:
Are you, are you Coming to the tree Where they strung up a man They say who murdered three? Strange things did happen here No stranger would it be If we met at midnight In the hanging tree
So, as you can see, the song does make reference to ‘murder’, which is a key part of The Traitors game (not real murder, of course), but even with that context, we’re still not sure why the producers are keen to play it out before every roundtable.
During a viral TikTok clip from an on-stage Q&A this week, Acaster revealed the song’s usage to the audience: “You all walk in silence down the corridor, and you all sit down, and they don’t announce it’s gonna happen.
“The first time this will completely blindside you, but they do it every single roundtable. They play that song from The Hunger Games, that ‘coming to the tree’ song. Like acapella, Jennifer Lawrence.”
He continued: “It was every f***ing time, it was the only song we heard the whole time we were in there, and all day I would have it in my head constantly, everyone would, I’d go ‘have you got coming to the tree in your head?’ and they’d go ‘yes, it’s in my head, again’.”
Viewers who watch the show may have spotted the song being played in the background or transition between certain scenes, but now it’s been revealed that the contestants hear it too.
Who would’ve thought?
Featured Image – Euan Cherry / BBC / Studio Lambert
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Tickets officially go on sale for rare 70mm IMAX screenings of Dune: Part Three in Manchester
Emily Sergeant
Tickets have now officially gone on sale for rare 70mm IMAX screenings of Dune: Part Three in Manchester.
Arriving on screens from 18 December and gearing up to be one of the most anticipated films of the year, Dune: Part Three – which is the third and final instalment in director Denis Villeneuve’s Dune franchise – will be screening in IMAX 70mm at Vue Manchester Printworks, one of only three venues to show it in this format nationwide.
There are only 40 other venues across the globe showing the film in IMAX 70mm, and Manchester is the only city outside of London to screen the blockbuster this way too.
Based on the novels of Frank Herbert and set nearly two decades after the previous film, Dune: Part Three features an ensemble cast of all-star names led by Timothée Chalamet and Zendaya.
Alongside them will be Jason Momoa, Florence Pugh, Anya Taylor-Joy, Rebecca Ferguson, Robert Pattinson, Charlotte Rampling, Javier Bardem, and Josh Brolin.
After seats for a special early screening of the film in IMAX sold out in less than 30 minutes last month, the IMAX 70mm showings – which officially went live today (20 October) – are expected to be snapped up fast by film fans in Manchester.
“A decade in the making, Denis Villeneuve’s epic Dune trilogy is reaching its dramatic conclusion this December,” explained Dean Cross, who is the Senior Screen Content Manager at Vue.
“As the only venue outside of London to be screening Dune: Part Three in IMAX 70mm, it’s a privilege for us to offer this unique way to experience the film.”
Emily Sergeant -
21st December 2020 
