
The famous egg has found a new home. | COURTESY OF ALEXANDER CRANER
Since being featured on the Today show and amassing over 25,000 followers on TikTok, four Kenyon students’ perfectly spherical egg has made its way to Gambier.
Konrad Christian ’22, Michael Morgan ’22, Zane Monaghan ’22 and Alexander Craner ’22 created the TikTok account @sphericalegg to showcase an egg that Christian found while the four were living together in the fall. The egg’s spherical shape is very rare, a quality the account draws on to create humorous videos for the amusement of thousands of viewers.
When the four students moved to campus this January, the egg came with them. It now resides in Craner and Monaghan’s New Apartment refrigerator. The egg has survived three months with few signs of deterioration, save a few speckles on the shell, according to Monaghan, who treats the egg with mineral oil to preserve the shelf life. “It doesn’t smell, but it looks a bit weird,” said Craner.
Campus fans have peppered the students with questions about the egg since their return. “My coach on the basketball team is very in love with the egg. Every time we have a basketball Zoom call, he forces me to talk about how the egg is doing for the entire team,” said Christian. Students have also asked whether the egg is on campus and if they can see it, but according to Christian, no one outside their apartment has seen the egg. “We’re very protective of it,” he said.
Since the Collegian first covered the account in December, the spherical egg has garnered attention from media outlets such as the Today show and Mashable.com. When the group learned that estimates placed the chances of finding a spherical egg at one in a billion, they reached out to local and national news outlets to share their story. Not long after, a producer at ABC News contacted them on Twitter to be featured on the Today show. Other articles about their find gained traction on the internet following the Today show coverage.
After the end of the fall semester, @sphericalegg’s posts slowed as the former housemates stopped living together. Since arriving on campus, the quiet period disrupted their collaboration to create new content, but they intend to resume posting now that restrictions have lifted. “One of us can’t do this without the other three, so it’s time to get going,” said Craner.
As for the egg’s future, things are still up in the air. The group has toyed with the idea of writing a children’s book about the egg, and possibly using resin to further preserve and protect the egg against future decay. They have also considered selling it, but are leaning towards donating it to an egg museum. “100 dollars apiece might be a good feeling now, but I would much rather have it up in a museum where it can be the gift that keeps on giving,” said Monaghan. The rest of the group agreed. “It would be much more meaningful to have it immortalized, instead of just selling it to some collectors so it could sit on a shelf for a while,” said Christian.
As for now, the group will continue to use social media to publicize the egg, and are open to suggestions for future content. They can be reached at TheSpericalEgg@gmail.com.