Young boy wins $800,000 gold Prime bottle at Logan Paul’s London event

A young boy has won nearly $800,000 in solid gold at a wild event to celebrate influencers* Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime energy drink.

Prime, launched just last year to incredible hype, quickly became a cult item* among young kids.

Chaotic scenes were filmed at stores during its first week on the market while, for a period, it was nearly impossible to get a hold of the drink.

Prime was also fairly controversial. The full-strength version, which contains almost twice Australia’s legal limit* for caffeine*, isn’t available in Australia, and Aussie schools rushed to ban even the non-caffeinated version due to safety concerns.

While caffeine can have dangerous effects on people of any age, the drink contains a list of other ingredients where little is known about the health implications*.

Last week, co-founders Paul and KSI stunned their millions of fans when they announced a competition to win a solid gold bar shaped to look like the iconic* drink, in celebration of one billion Prime bottles sold.

Two of the gold bars were made, valued at $760,000 each. One was available in New York and the other, in London.

“The golden Prime will be encased in bulletproof glass,” the pair explained in a promo video for the event.

“To get to it you must correctly guess a six-digit code.

“Each person only has one guess and only 20 seconds to make that guess.

“If the code is not guessed correctly within 48 hours, the torches inside the case will ignite and the gold Prime bottle will be incinerated* completely, worth absolutely nothing.”

On Monday, the event in London was flooded by crazed fans trying to guess the mystery number.

Time was quickly running out when a young boy, dressed in a Pinewood football jersey*, stepped up and keyed in the six-digit code 954229.

Confetti canons exploded, revealing the boy had correctly guessed the number.

A video shared on Prime’s X (Twitter) account showed the boy fist pumping the air and grinning as he gripped his prize.

But the scenes were rather different in New York City.

Because the winner was crowned in London, the New York bottle was melted down.

“That’s (US)$250,000 gone, just like that,” Paul said in a clip of the bottle when it was half melted.

But it was a bit of a farce*. The melting process means the gold is still fully intact and retains its material value*; it’s just no longer in the shape of a Prime bottle.

GLOSSARY

• influencers: people who are famous on the internet for what they do or say
• cult item: something that many people like a lot and want to have
• legal limit: the amount of something that is allowed by the law
• controversial: something that makes people argue or disagree
• caffeine: a drug that stimulates your brain and nervous system to make a person feel more alert or awake. Doctors advise against caffeine for children under 12 and against any use of energy drinks for all children and teens
• health implications: how something can affect your body and how it works
• iconic: something that is very famous and easy to recognise
• incinerated: completely burned to ashes
• pinewood football jersey: a shirt with the name of a place and a sport on it
• farce: a form of comedy in which plot and situations are exaggerated, the effects often being ridiculous
• material value: how much something is worth in money

EXTRA READING

‘Dangerous’: Schools ban Prime energy drink

‘Famous’ Prime energy drink warning for kids

New vaping laws: changes made to reduce teen usage

QUICK QUIZ

1. What did the young boy win at the event celebrating Logan Paul and KSI’s Prime energy drink?
2. Why did the Prime energy drink become hard to find during its first week on the market?
3. What made Prime energy drink controversial, especially in Australia?
4. How was a winner chosen for the solid gold bar shaped like the Prime drink?
5. What happened to the New York bottle after the winner was crowned in London?

LISTEN TO THIS STORY

CLASSROOM ACTIVITIES
1. Secret codes
It seems fairly hard to win the gold Prime bottle with no clues. However, this boy was lucky enough to guess the six digit number.

Write down a secret code on a piece of paper and cover it with a flap of coloured card.

Write five clues to help them guess the number and which order it may be located.

Secret Number:

Five clues:

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Draw your own gold trophy they can win if they guess the correct answer.

Pass your clues to different classmates while you try and guess their secret numbers.

Time: allow 30 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: Mathematics, Critical and Creative Thinking

2. Extension
If you were lucky enough to win $760,000, what do you think your parents would want you to do with it?

What would be your strategy to try and guess the correct code?

Time: allow 10 minutes to complete this activity
Curriculum Links: English, Personal and Social, Critical and Creative Thinking

VCOP ACTIVITY
Imaginative dialogue
Imagine you were there during the event being discussed in the article, or for the interview.

Create a conversation between two characters from the article – you may need or want to include yourself as one of the characters. Don’t forget to try to use facts and details from the article to help make your dialogue as realistic as possible.

Go through your writing and highlight any punctuation you have used in green. Make sure you carefully check the punctuation used for the dialogue and ensure you have opened and closed the speaking in the correct places.