'CARNAGE'
SHOCKING scenes unfolded at branches of Aldi today as shoppers fought off kids to get their hands on Prime energy drinks.
The budget supermarket stocked the viral drink, made for just £1.99 per bottle today, leading to huge queues and fights, as it sold out "within about 30 seconds."
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Footage from one store shows a crowd of people, including both adults and young children, pushing and shoving around a cardboard box of the drink, desperate to get hold of some.
The video, captured by 19-year-old student Kristina Sheppard in Sydenham, East London, revealed the "absolute chaos" at Aldi stores today.
Kristina said: "It was just hectic. I didn't push anyone, but there was a lot of pushing and shoving going on.
"I thought there was a limit of one bottle per flavour, but I saw people getting cases of them.
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"There were parents pushing children. There were kids between the ages of 7 and 14, they were being pushed out of the way. One of the staff was shouting 'parents, stop pushing the kids'. It was absolute carnage."
Another customer, Adam Smith, said he joined a queue for the drink with his son Charlie, 10, who is "obsessed" with the drink, early this morning.
He said that there were at least 50 people ahead of him in the line and more than 100 behind him.
Meanwhile, one shop assistant at Aldi at Brocklebank Retail Park in Greenwich, South East London said the store ran out of its limited stock of Prime Hydration within “minutes” of opening.
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The employee, who asked to remain anonymous, said: “People started queuing outside at 6am and we don’t even open until 8am.
"We’d sold out within a few minutes of opening the doors, it’s crazy.
"People are going mad for it."
There were parents pushing children. There were kids between the ages of 7 and 14, they were being pushed out of the way."
Kristina Sheppard
She said the store had ordered in around 20 cases of the popular energy drink for its Specialbuy section.
The deputy store manager of an Aldi near Dartford, Kent, said: "Stores were sent a limited number of units and that was gone within about 30 seconds."
Advertised as a "hydration drink", Prime contains mostly water added with vitamins and minerals and has few calories with no added sugar.
It is also made up of coconut water but does not have any caffeine in it.
The drink is so hot among youngsters that desperate parents have traveled more than 500 miles just to get their hands on a bottle.
The craze has even moved to online markets, with one savvy punter selling .
One pub owner is accepting the drinks as payments in hopes the product's price will soar once supply dries out.
Prime was created and popularised by YouTube stars KSI and Logan Paul and has seen demand skyrocket in recent weeks.
Its popularity grew after the pair promoted it heavily around high-profile celebrity boxing matches in the UK.
The duo came up with the idea for coconut water-based Prime Hydration after their final boxing match in 2019.
During a live stream, the pair said they wanted to "rival the biggest companies on earth" with their products - including "Pepsi, Coke, Gatorade and Powerade".
But they insisted their main goals for the 11-flavour project - which includes blue raspberry, tropical punch and grape - were taste and hydration.
And demand for the drink has grown ever since, massively outpacing supply as youngsters try to emulate their social media heroes.
It was originally only sold in Asda, but Aldi recently landed an exclusive deal to stock it for a limited time.
The new stock arrival comes just two months after teens stormed an Asda in Bournemouth to buy the product.
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An Aldi spokesperson said: "We’re sorry that some customers were unable to get their hands on this product, however, demand has been extremely high.
"We limited purchases to one of each variant per customer so that as many customers as possible had a chance to buy it."
What is Prime and why is it so popular?
PRIME is a drinks brand developed by YouTubers-turned-boxers KSI and Logan Paul, who between them have 50 million subscribers.
Bottles of the "thirst-quenching" beverage have been flying off UK shelves since being released earlier this year.
The products, which come in seven different flavours including Blue Raspberry and Tropical Punch, were first available in Asda and on the official Prime website.
They sold out almost instantly. Corner shops started to clock on to their popularity and began to stock them at inflated prices.
As of December 2022, the drinks are now also available in Aldi, with a one-variant-per-customer limit.
But shoppers have been buying them in bulk to flog on eBay for as much as £12,000 a pack.
Prime drinks contain 10 per cent coconut water, electrolytes and a variety of vitamins.
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