Chloe Cherry reveals what those absolutely vile white balls in Euphoria really were

If you thought those weird little balls in Euphoria looked bad on screen, it turns out they were just as grim to film.

HBO

In the season 3 premiere of Euphoria, we finally get a look at what Rue has been up to since we last saw her, and it’s bleak. The show doesn’t exactly hold back when it comes to showing the reality of drug trafficking, including the full-on horrifying process of being a mule.

We see Rue travelling to Mexico, heading into the back of a dodgy bar, and being handed lube before having to swallow a bowl full of plastic-wrapped drug balloons. And no, despite what some people thought, it wasn’t garlic cloves or mozzarella balls. It was fentanyl.

I’m lactose intolerant but I watched that Euphoria premiere like mmmm burrata pic.twitter.com/sqzkwoQZj6

— Meech (@MediumSizeMeech) April 13, 2026

The show walks us through every step: Testing the packets in water to make sure they won’t burst, forcing them down, and then, after crossing the border, retrieving them in a way that is exactly as grim as you’re imagining.

How on earth did they film that?!

Chloe Cherry, who plays Faye, she confirmed it was just as disgusting behind the scenes as it looked on screen.

HBO

“So yes, it is disgusting to swallow bags, balloons filled with fentanyl, even if the fentanyl is fake because we’re on a set,” she told DECIDER. “It is very gross.”

She added that she had to fully get into the mindset to make it believable: “I guess I just kind of imagined in my mind I was like, ‘What if I was really f***ing doing this? Like, what if I was actually doing this and I had to do it? How would I feel about it?’ And I just think I would be disgusted.”

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And in case you were wondering how realistic it all was? Pretty realistic, apparently.

@tvinsider #Euphoria ♬ original sound – TV Insider

“I was putting real KY Jelly into my mouth, and it was a condom or a balloon or something, and then they just put something that looked like a powder, probably like baby powder. Then they just tied it up so it looks like balls of fentanyl,” she explained to TV Insider. “So yeah, we used real KY jelly and that was not hard at all for me and I had a great time.”

Another thing some people couldn’t quite wrap their heads around was how the packets don’t just dissolve inside your stomach. Surely stomach acid would break them down?

HBO

Turns out, not really. The materials typically used, like latex or tough plastics, are actually pretty resistant to stomach acid. On top of that, the packets are layered multiple times, so even if one layer fails, the others hold.

There’s also a whole grim science to speeding things up. People doing this often take drugs to slow digestion while travelling, then use laxatives later to get everything out as quickly as possible.

If you thought those scenes were hard to watch, just know they were just as nasty to film.

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Featured image credit: HBO