A video showing what looks like a bed bug on the London underground has gone viral, causing panic among Londoners and commuters who rely on the transport service to get around. But is the bed bug real?
Here is the video, which was posted on social networks Ticktock and X:
So many people want to know if the video is real. Let’s dive into that now.
The video is short and involves a wobbly camera. It shows what is claimed to be a bed bug crawling on the trousers of a female passenger, who goes by the name username lassogold on Ticktock.
The Ticktock user sells jewellery on her Ticktock channel.
I guess we should each ask ourselves, “what would I do if I had a blood sucking bed bug crawling on my leg?”.
Well, I think most people, the instant reaction would be anything other than taking out their phone and recording it!
Maybe that’s an indication that it might be staged?
But, just because 99% of people would instantly brush off the bug, doesn’t necessarily mean that it would be the reaction of everyone.
Then again, in this social media age, there’s no lengths that people won’t go to in the pursuit of creating viral content, so there’s pretty compelling motivation there.
Ok, so what else suggests that the video is staged?
Well, two things:
No clear shot
There’s no clear shot of the bed bug. There’s only a blurry brown thing that appears to have leg-like parts, on the passenger’s trousers. Without a single clear shot, it’s impossible to ID this as a bed bug, or some other insect (such as a tick or baby cockroach) or just a piece of material that resembles a bed bug.
It’s not moving
The “bed bug” does not appear to be move in the video. Bed bugs can crawl at a speed of three to four feet per minute. This video suggests that the bed bug was motivated to crawl up the passenger’s leg, but then stop moving for the video.
It’s kind of unusual behaviour.
Bed bugs want to drink blood and they tend to hide in dark, hard-to-see places until a host is nearby. They then move toward the skin of the host where they can feed. Bed bugs tend to avoid well-lit open areas. This means that the bed bug’s typical behaviour would have involved hiding in the crevice’s in the seats on the tube, and from there, crawling up the back of the passenger’s shirt, or heading toward the back of their neck, to reach skin.
What this video demonstrates is not very typical i.e. the bed bug did not take the most efficient route to a blood meal. Instead, it came out from its hiding place to somewhere open and well lit, before stopping to take a break on the subjects leg, which coincidentally was when the video was captured.
The whole thing, while not impossible, seems a bit far-fetched.
What’s the alternative scenario?
The other possibility is that the bed bug (or bed bug look-a-like) is dead, and it was placed by the passenger on her own trousers. She conceivably recorded a deliberately short and blurry video, as a way to drum up attention for her jewellery channel on social media, by capitalising on newly emerging public fears around bed bugs.
In fact, lassogold has subsequently created a follow-up video addressing all her new Ticktock followers, that she acquired off the back of her bed bug video, asking them to check out her jewellery products, which could be construed as an attempt to convert the social traction into new business.
Is the video real or staged?
The video quality is poor so it’s not possible to ID the bug. The behaviour of the bug isn’t very typical. The person who posted the video seems to be trying to benefit financially from it and she recorded it on her phone as her first reaction instead of flicking it off. Based on these factors, we’d suggest that it’s slightly more likely to be a staged video than something genuine, but it’s simply not possible to know for sure.
Does the UK have bed bugs?
Yes. The UK has had bed bugs for as long as humans have lived in the country. They are nothing new and they didn’t all come from France either.
Bed bug issues reach their annual peak each year in August normally, because the pest is spread around by people with bed bugs staying in new places (hotels, planes, trains etc), and then those places pass the bed bugs onto new people. This cycle takes place more in the summer months as people go on vacation (and sleep in new beds).
What to do if I have bed bugs?
Bed bugs are very difficult to get rid of. You will need professional help. Get in touch with a pest control specialist if you think you have bed bugs in your home.
If you work in a business (such as TFL) then you will need a specific commercial pest control solution. Commercial pest services offer regular screening as part of integrated pest management, to keep businesses clear and clean of bugs, and to ensure all bed bug issues are identified very early on, and solved before they go biting people.
For this, businesses should employ a pest control company such as Merlin, who have a team of bed bug detecting sniffer dogs that can quickly and regularly comb through your business and flag up any bed bugs, or bed bug eggs, accompanied by a technician who can destroy them straight away.
