Social media is rife with blame for the slow-cooker after its role in latest tear-jerking episode.
Spoiler Alert! This story contains references to Tuesday's episode of This Is Us.
On Tuesday’s episode of NBC’s acclaimed series This Is Us, a fire sparked by a Crock-Pot erupted in the Pearson household, leaving many viewers to be in fear of their own beloved cooking device.
The episode has caused a social media firestorm and some viewers are throwing out their Crock-Pots and turning to social media to heap blame on the appliance.
“My mom just threw our crockpot out #ThisIsUs,” was one tweet.
“Crockpots are going to be showing up in goodwills across the country like crazy!!" was another.
“Me running to my kitchen to unplug my crockpot,” said yet another viewer.
Crock-Pot is one of the many popular brands of slow cookers used for pot roasts, stews, soups, chili and similar dishes that can take hours to cook. Unlike the scene in This Is Us, they have a great track record for safety.
A statement from the company to NBC says they "never received any consumer complaints similar to the fictional events portrayed in episode."
The statement went on: "It is important that our consumers understand and have confidence that all Crock-Pot slow cookers exceed all internal testing protocols and all applicable industry safety standards and regulations as verified by independent third-party testing labs.
"Our hope is that the team at NBC’s This Is Us will help us in spreading factual information regarding our product’s safety. While we know their primary mission is to entertain — something they have continued to excel in — we also feel they have a responsibility to inform."
Betty Gold of the Good Housekeeping Institute told Inside Edition that Crock-Pots are a generally safe appliance.
In the episode, the Pearson family received a used and old Crock-Pot from an elderly neighbor who warned them that the switch on the device was broken. The family used the device for nearly 18 years in the show before it caught on fire.
This Is Us creator Dan Fogelman is trying to put out the fire on Twitter.
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