Sandi Toksvig claims she's never, ever farted: Discuss.

October 20, 2020 11:07 AM

The UK television presenter Sandi Toksvig (born 1958) recently claimed that she had never farted in her entire life. Surely that's medically impossible?

Toksvig made this claim while hosting an episode of QI, and it was duly screened. She insisted on-air that she was being perfectly serious, and refused to recant when questioned by the show's incredulous panelists.

posted by Paul Slade to Health & Fitness (21 answers total)

That is indeed medically and physically impossible. She's also a comedian.
posted by jonathanhughes at 11:16 AM on October 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

It's possible she meant that she never did audibly.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:17 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

I mean, my dog only ever burps. And those burps are freaking MAJESTIC.
posted by mochapickle at 11:29 AM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

With 8 billion people out there all kinds of things are possible so I wouldn't say it's medically impossible but I do wonder where all the gas would go.
posted by any portmanteau in a storm at 11:41 AM on October 20, 2020

As someone who's said they've never burped and has meant "audibly, even with three stepbrothers trying to teach me how all through childhood", I would guess that Sandi is queen of the SBD.
posted by tchemgrrl at 11:51 AM on October 20, 2020 [6 favorites]

There are medical farts, and there are social farts. They are significantly different. I assume Dame Toksvig is denying the latter.
posted by niicholas at 12:14 PM on October 20, 2020 [2 favorites]

I'd bet her immediate family would tell a different tale.
posted by jquinby at 1:10 PM on October 20, 2020

I don't think you need to. Most gas produced in digestion is absorbed back into your bloodstream in the colon and then H₂S is dealt with, I believe, in the liver, as are the hydrocarbons. CO₂ is breathed straight out, of course. Also, I assume a fair amount can vent through a closed sphincter. They're not airtight, right?

I am not an expert. I don't even have an average amount of colon.
posted by ambrosen at 1:14 PM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Uh. I hate to discuss this and literally never have. Until I was pregnant at almost 40 I don't think I did it audibly or noticeably (to me) in my life. People talked about it - did it -- but it seemed like some type of parlor trick. Same with burping. No food affected me in any strange way like making me gassy, etc.

After my pregnancy? I can't even drink a glass of lemonade without reflux and digestive stuff well, It's all different now.
posted by ReluctantViking at 1:26 PM on October 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

Response by poster: Toksvig certainly didn't give the impression that she was talking only about audible farts. In fact, I think one of the panelists may have asked her that specific question and she denied it.
posted by Paul Slade at 1:33 PM on October 20, 2020

I'd bet she just farts in her sleep.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:34 PM on October 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

I actually rarely fart, and even more rarely audibly. After my first colonoscopy I may fart very slightly more often, but still rarely audibly.
posted by primate moon at 2:04 PM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

Apparently, on the Farting Spectrum, Ms. Toksvig and I (and our ends) are at opposite ends.
posted by Dr. Wu at 2:39 PM on October 20, 2020 [4 favorites]

I have gone days, maybe weeks, without farting so I noticed. I assume there was gas leakage during those periods, but not as an event I could perceive, so I could truthfully say that I hadn’t farted for a very long time. (Not never — I certainly have farted plenty in my life.) Applying that standard, what she says seems unusual but not implausible to me.
posted by LizardBreath at 2:53 PM on October 20, 2020

Wait, babies and toddlers fart, right? Who can claim to recall their own entire infancy in such thorough detail?

Unless she had a round-the-clock fart-monitor from the hour of her birth, I call shenanigans.
posted by armeowda at 3:19 PM on October 20, 2020 [3 favorites]

Yes, babies and toddlers do fart. And oh boy can they be eye watering.

(Infant teacher who has had more infants/toddlers come though her classroom than she can remember)
posted by kathrynm at 3:34 PM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

You haven't lived if you have not played fart roulette in public.
posted by AugustWest at 3:39 PM on October 20, 2020 [1 favorite]

If someone asked me straight to my face in public if I farted I would say no and stare just waiting for them to argue with me. And if they did I would hold my ground adamantly, maybe even while farting if the timing were perfect.

Why even ask that question. Out of all the questions to ask someone about their lives, and career why that one. I wouldn't even coincider it to be a serious question much less one that requires an honest response.
posted by AlexiaSky at 10:00 PM on October 20, 2020

Response by poster: Another small clarification: It wasn't that someone on the show asked Toksvig if she ever farted and she'd replied "No". She simply made this claim out of the blue.
posted by Paul Slade at 12:07 AM on October 21, 2020 [1 favorite]

I have a friend who said this. She farts in her sleep.
posted by Dwardles at 12:23 AM on October 21, 2020 [2 favorites]

For what it's worth, QI is a comedy show and this sort of deadpan bit is something they do a lot of.
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:22 AM on October 21, 2020