Crunch! Giant Chee-to spurs online frenzy, Small Iowa town to put it on display - By Jeordan Legon CNN Thursday, March 6, 2003

If you love cheese, this is the Chee-to for you. It's beyond dangerously cheesy.
-- Kevin Cogan, Frito-Lay

(CNN) -- It's believed to be the largest Chee-to in the world. The cheesy glob of fried cornmeal that Navy Petty Officer Mike Evans found last week in a bag of the snacks is about the size of a small lemon and weighs in at about half an ounce.

Evans, 41, a fervent user of online auctions, posted his find on eBay. He never expected the flurry of attention that followed.

Radio stations from around the country interviewed Evans, a Gulf War veteran stationed in Pearl Harbor who patiently explained that he bought the bag of Chee-tos for his 3-year-old son. Giant Chee-to T-shirts and Chee-to puppet auctions sprung up online. And pranksters bid up the Chee-to into the millions of dollars -- so much that eBay cancelled the sale and a frustrated Evans donated the Chee-to to a good cause: a sleepy farming community in Iowa.

"I was absolutely astounded that something like a Chee-to could become a pop icon," said Evans. "It's international. I've even seen it online on a Russian site."

--This was the lead story on CNN Technology. You gotta love eBay!