When a group of housemates in Esperance, Western Australia, bought a pair of lettuces in a sealed plastic bag reduced for quick sale to $1.15, they got two unexpected extras: a live frog the size of a man's palm and a slot on national television.
Laura Jones and Billie Le Pine described the discovery as "the most random thing" upon opening the leafy greens from Woolworths. They fronted their interview on ABC news breakfast with a series of ready-made one-liners. "Look, if I was in a French supermarket, I probably would have got a two for one deal on that one," Jones quipped.
The town of Esperance, named after a French frigate, has a twin city in St Martin de Ré, France. Woolworths called the incident "isolated" and said it was investigating "as a priority." A company spokesperson stated: "Our suppliers have rigorous processes to maintain product quality. For heads of lettuce this involves washing and a number of quality checks, which includes checking for foreign materials, before they are packaged and sent to our stores."
Jones and Le Pine were not the ones who opened the packet. "All credit to our flatmates eh," Jones said. "It's their lettuce and they came home and he's just in the kitchen cookin' up and then he's like: 'bro, there's a frog in my lettuce.' He's one of the most relaxed Australians you'll ever find." Though also relaxed, Jones and Le Pine are New Zealanders, as evidenced by their All Blacks and Warriors guernseys and Le Pine's thick accent, which forced the ABC host to ask him to repeat his lines.
The housemates named the frog Greg. "We named him Greg, so he had a name at least, yeah," Le Pine said. "Sorry what did you name him?" anchor James Glenday asked. "Greg," Le Pine replied. Jones and Le Pine gave Greg a ceremonial release into a nearby dam. "We thought we'd give him a wee send off tune," Le Pine said. "And we played him Crazy Frog for him. So he was pretty happy again."
Frog expert Dr. Jodi Rowley, who was traipsing through the Blue Mountains in search of reptiles, could not definitively identify the species from the small screen. "But it's a bell frog for sure," she said. "If it came from WA, then it's a relatively common species of frog called the motorbike frog. If it is from the east coast, then it is either the green and golden bell frog, or the southern bell frog – and both of those species are threatened. So I guess the origin of that lettuce is the big question."
While admitting it was "very strange" to see such a big frog in such a small bag, Rowley noted that "thousands of 'stowaway' frogs" are "inadvertently shipped from all around Australia." "Certainly, it is a thing that frogs accidentally hitchhike," she said. "They go to sleep on a pile of bananas or a lettuce – or whatever the case may be – and they end up getting packaged." She encouraged anyone who finds a frog in their shopping to put it in a container and contact an expert to prevent disease spread and ensure the frog's survival, as stowaway frogs often become people's pets after quarantine.
Jones, Le Pine, and their flatmates may have missed out on a free pet, but they did not leave empty-handed. "We have spoken to the customer to apologise and provide a replacement item," the Woolworths spokesperson said.
