What You Need To Know About Chunky Monkey From Puppy Bowl 2021
The Super Bowl is fun and all, but the dog lovers among us know that the most important event of the day is Puppy Bowl which airs over on Animal Planet. Out of the 70 rescue dogs to take the field, it's inevitable that one breakout star will emerge by the end of the game — and this year the clear winner is a very sleepy pup named Chunky Monkey.
Chunky Monkey, an exceptionally fluffy Chow Chow, Irish Red and White Setter mix (via Discovery), made her grand entrance onto the field... and then promptly decided to lie down and take a snooze. It was highly relatable — after all, who among us hasn't had the urge to take a nap during the workday?
"Nap advocate Chunky Monkey is our new ICON," Animal Planet tweeted from its official account, accompanied by a video of Chunky Monkey getting some shut-eye on the field.
Chunky Monkey instantly became a Twitter sensation
All the competitors on both Team Fluff and Team Ruff were adorable, but it was simply impossible to compete with napper extraordinaire Chunky Monkey. Sure, she received a penalty for "excessive slumber" during the game's first quarter (via Mashable) but by then she was already a Twitter celeb. "If humans had fouls for excessive slumber, I would have been out of the game long ago," tweeted writer Heidi Moore. "Get it, Chunky Monkey! Avenge all of us who handle stress with sleep!" Twitter user @dumbhippykid was also positively smitten. "[L]ook at her. [I] would die for chunky monkey," they wrote in a Twitter post accompanied by a video of Chunky Monkey's grand entrance.
According to Mashable, announcers stated that Chunky Monkey will likely reach about 76 pounds once she's full-grown. If you were hoping for the chance to adopt her, we regret to inform you that Puppy Bowl is pre-taped (all that action isn't live?!). On the bright side, Chunky Monkey's foster mom Cassandra Asekhauno was kind enough to tweet a photo of the overnight sensation as she watched herself on screen.
"Chunky Monkey is enjoying seeing all her buddies on the screen," Asekhauno captioned the photo. Chunky Monkey has already gotten bigger but the more noticeable difference is that she appeared to be wide awake as she watched the game, proudly wearing her Team Fluff bandana. And just like that, a canine star is born.