Does It Work? Banana vs. the Scratched DVD

It happened the other night — I reached for a beloved DVD and was happily watching while snuggling with a blanket when it hit a bit of a blip. I tried just about everything from fast-forwarding to cleaning to yelling, and nothing worked. Before resigning myself to paying for it all over again, I remembered reading somewhere about how a banana can fix scratches. But does it really work? I just happened to have an overripe banana waiting on the counter ready to assist.

When your favorite DVD, CD, or game disk skips, using a banana is suggested to help seal the scratches, allegedly resulting in a wonderfully happy disk that can be enjoyed over and over again. To fix, gently rub the flesh of a banana into the disk, and then lightly buff with the banana peel, which fills scratches with its natural waxiness. Once finished, rub with a clean soft cloth in circular movements, and then give a final shine with window cleaner. It's that simple.

I'll be honest — I didn't have high expectations. Most smart reviewers found the banana treatment worked like a dream, but when I popped my disk back in the DVD player, it was spit back at me faster than I could find the remote to press play. After following the steps a second time, the disk still wasn't reading in the player. In theory the idea is a good one, but didn't work at all with my DVD.

Do you have a secret for fixing scratched disks? Do tell!