The Starburst candy saga that saw mom denied big cash prize but keep winning pack for 15 YEARS has epic ending

A Connecticut grandmother finally got her $10,000 prize from a 15-year-old pack of gold-wrapped Starburst as a very sweet surprise ahead of her 50th birthday.

On a scorching hot July afternoon in New Haven, Kiya, 20, and her mother, Nila, 50, were digging through a closet looking for their extra air conditioning unit. 

While sorting through the rarely used corner of their home, Nila pulled out a small chest of keepsakes.

Accompanied by Kiya, one of her sons and her granddaughter, Nila opened the box of memories to reminisce on precious moments from the past. 

But among the sentimental snapshots and trinkets was a seemingly out-of-place packet of Starbursts. 

Neatly tucked away in clear plastic wrapping, the weathered candies were ripped into but untouched.

And instead of the typical variety of pink, orange, yellow and red wrappers, they were all covered in gold foil. 

Everyone raised their eyebrows at the unlikely memento, but for Nila, memories of huge disappointment from more than 15 years ago came rushing back.  

‘I’m never getting rid of this pack of Starbursts – because I’m a winner,’ an audibly upset Nila said in a TikTok Kiya posted on July 8, which garnered tens of millions of views. 

The packet of Starbursts were part of a 2010 sweepstakes. But when the single mother-of-five went to cash in her prize, she was told it was too late. 

‘Are you going to eat it?’ her granddaughter asked with a smile, lightening the mood as the room burst into laughter.

Speaking exclusively to the Daily Mail, Nila has now revealed what she recalls from all those years ago. 

She was grocery shopping at Stop & Shop sometime in 2010 when she reached for a pack of Starbursts.

They are her favorite type of candy so she did not think twice as she threw them in her cart without looking at the packaging. 

But when she later went to eat them, she realized there was something was different. 

Stamped on the wrapper in blue writing was a message that read: ‘Find the gold Starburst, you could win $10,000’.

The sweets she had picked up were apart of Starburst’s ‘Hunt For Gold’ promotion. 

And when Nila tore open the wrapper she discovered every candy was covered in gold paper. 

With her heart racing at the idea she may have won, she dialed the number on the back of the packet. 

But her excitement quickly turned to crushing disappointment as she learned she had missed the deadline to enter.

‘They were like “oh, that contest ended” and I was just so sad,’ Nila told the Daily Mail.  

She said she cried for two days after missing out on the prize money and then tucked them away out of sight. But she never threw them out.

As the years passed, she forgot about the Starburst debacle and the keepsake box with the candies inside was left hidden in her cupboard.

And if it was not for the early July heatwave, there it may have remained.

Kiya, who was about five years old when her mother bought the candy, told the Daily Mail this was the first time she had heard the story. 

‘You know this generation,’ Nila joked. ‘She pulled out her phone while I’m telling her the story.’ 

Kiya then uploaded the video to TikTok where it caught the attention of nearly 30 million viewers. – and crucially, Starburst itself. 

‘@starburst she got the gold ones can we still get out 10k?’ Kiya wrote in a message directed at the company’s TikTok account. 

She also sent Starburst a direct message (DM) to make sure she saw her post. 

Meanwhile, ordinary Americans captivated by the tale also did their best to raise awareness by contacting the company and writing messages online.

And their efforts paid off. Just a few days after Kiya shared the video, Starburst commented: ‘Yes, of course we saw this. Yes, we love it. And yes, we had to talk to Legal. Check your DMs.’ 

Kiya has since shared the exciting message from Starburst with the Daily Mail. 

‘Although the sweepstakes ended 15 years ago, we know your mom’s birthday is coming up and we want to help celebrate – with $10,000 of course,’ Starburst wrote.

Nila and Kiya then made a follow-up TikTok to reveal the good news to their followers.

‘I know that without every voice, none of this would have happened,’ Nila said. 

Kiya chimed in to say they were not expecting the original video to go viral and jokingly asked her followers ‘Who wants one?’ [of the candies].

Starbust later commented on the video: ‘We loved getting to be part of this! Cheers to all the golden moments ahead!’ 

However, not everyone on the internet was so supportive, with some people accusing the family of being scammers and lying to secure the cash.  

‘Let’s just say I turned my phone off for a little while,’ Kiya told the Daily Mail.  

Nila added that the money was a ‘miracle’ that came at the perfect time. 

‘I look at it like a true blessing from Heaven,’ she said.  

A circuit board manufacturer by trade, Nila has been struggling with her health this year and on leave from work.

‘I was just trying to figure out how I was going to make ends meet. There’s just a lot going on in my life at this moment. It may not seem like a lot of money for some, but for us it’s life-changing,’ she said.

Nila said she plans to put some of her $10,000 winnings towards an ice cream truck – a business plan she has been working on for some time. She is also hoping to soon publish a book of poetry.

One thing she will not be doing, however, is eating her winning packet of Starbust. Instead she incorporated the lucky gold candies into her 50th birthday celebrations by displaying them as part of the decorations.

‘I think they mean even more to her now,’ Kiya said.  

The Daily Mail has reached out to Starburst and its parent company Mars for further comment.