Home > Life > Digital Culture

Mitt Romney's unusual technique for blowing out birthday candles is puzzling the internet

This one definitely takes the cake.

Sage Anderson

on March 12, 2019

It's Mitt Romney's party, and he can blow out his candles however he wants to.

Senator Mitt Romney posted a video on Twitter showing his staffers surprising him with a cake for his birthday on Tuesday made out of his favorite snacks, Twinkies.

Now, we're not going to unpack Romney's favorite food opinions, but the rest of the video seems like a fairly normal birthday surprise. They sing "Happy Birthday," he jokes about eating the whole cake, and then things get, uh, interesting.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Romney displays an unusual technique to blowing out the candles. Instead of just blowing them out in one go, he plucks them off the cake and proceeds to blow them out individually, one by one. The whole process takes an only slightly awkward 30 seconds.

Mashable Trend Report

Decode what’s viral, what’s next, and what it all means.

By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Thanks for signing up!

Just like the candles on the cake, Twitter was ablaze with opinions.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Although some on Twitter soon jumped to his defense, arguing that he was going for the more sanitary route.

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

And they may have a point — scientifically speaking, blowing out birthday candles may actually increase cake bacteria by up to 1,400 percent. Yum.

UPDATE: March 12, 2019, 4:57 p.m. EDT TMZ caught up with Mitt Romney and asked him about his candle-blowing technique — he ultimately confirmed Twitter's theory, stating "I have a bit of a cold and I didn't want to spray my germs all over the twinkies for everybody else to eat!" Mystery solved!

Topics X/Twitter Politics

Sage Anderson

Sage is the newest Culture writer on the block at Mashable NYC. They recently graduated from Sarah Lawrence College, and have previously worked for The Dr. Oz Show, NorthSouth Productions, and on Netflix's 'The OA Part II'. Off the clock, they can be found testing out cupcake recipes, collecting dolls, and watching Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure for the millionth time.