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You wouldn't understand the relationship between Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 actor Ben Starr and Balatro banana Gros Michel. It transcends words. It's an expression of belief… the belief that banana is good.
Banana is just. Most of all, banana is ripe. Starr alludes to these tenants when WhatCulture Gaming asks him during the Golden Joystick Awards 2025 what feels better, winning Best Supporting Performer as Verso in Expedition 33, or "having Gros Michel last one more turn?" He answers swiftly, "Gros Michel's my boy. This award can fuck itself."
"I want to experience the thrill of that sweet, sweet banana just lasting that one more round," Starr continues, becoming more passionate with each word. "15-times Mult, baby, let's go."
Yep, that's Gros Michel, the additive Mult Joker named after a type of cultivated banana. Disease rendered the Gros Michel fruit "commercially extinct" in the '50s, according to the American Society for Microbiology, and since then, much of the world has instead munched on the Cavendish variety. Though, it's not quite as beautifully stout as Gros Michel.
This grocery store tragedy plays out in Balatro, in which Gros Michel applies +15 Mult to whatever poker hand you play – though there's a one-in-six chance at the end of every round it spends in one of your Joker slots that it'll disappear. Then, the only banana you can obtain for the rest of that run is the Cavendish, which alternatively offers a three-times Mult to all hands played. Frustratingly, it also has a one-in-1,000 chance of self-destructing at the end of a round. Monkey business, that's for sure.
