In the middle of TV shows, sports games, movies, there are always commercials advertising new innovative and life-changing products. Among the most famous infomercials are those made by Vince Offer, who is known for his skill in marketing and his appearance in many memes.

But do these products even work? I took this as an opportunity to purchase the Slap Chop and the Shamwow.

The Slap Chop, a cooking utensil made to revolutionize the efficiency of chopping up foods, came within two days, with free shipping, thanks to Amazon Prime. The product was $19.99, which I thought was reasonable considering its abilities. I was more than excited to open it up and use it for the first time. It was very easy to use: I simply pushed down on a button, and the chopped foods would appear at the bottom of the accessory.

I decided that in order to run an appropriate test, I would chop three items with varying textures; so I chose a hard-boiled egg, a potato and almonds. The Slap Chop easily went through the egg, breaking it into many smaller pieces, but who would want to eat chopped eggs, anyway?

The problem began with the potatoes. After hitting the button, the potatoes pieces got stuck in between the blades. I attempted to take the pieces of potato out with a fork, but I wedged a gap between two of the blades, breaking the Slap Chop. So there was no almond test, unfortunately.

Next up was the Shamwow, an orange towel that is able to soak up water under any circumstances. It came at a price of $10 for one towel. I first saw this product being used live at a car convention, I hoped that it would live up to its demonstration. But realistically, how is it possible for a towel to hold 12 times its weight, and absorb fluids easily while drenched?

I moistened the Shamwow with a little bit of water and poured two cups of water on my grandparents’ dining table. (I  was awkwardly questioned shortly after.)

I tried my best to replicate the infomercial and used the same circular motion strategy that Offer performed. To my surprise, the Shamwow soaked up all of the water and left no dripping mess. It was much better than normal towels used in households, absorbing water rather than spreading it around the surface.

The second test was to discover the maximum amount of water the Shamwow could absorb before the towel started dripping. The Shamwow successfully absorbed two cups of water but not fully three, so I assumed that it could absorb around 2.5. I mean the absorbance is not graded like a chemistry lab, so a guestimate is OK, right?

The bottom line is that the products that I purchased from Vince Offer lived up to their advertisements. At first, many of these products where they would double-your-product-if-you-called-within-the next-twenty-minutes all seemed like cheap pieces of garbage, but the Shamwow and Slap Chop proved my assumptions to be completely false. I was impressed with the Slap Chop’s ability to chop through certain foods, such as eggs and fruits, five with ease. It was good while it lasted.

I just hope that I am still eligible to return the broken Slap Chop for a full refund, though.