This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

The worst five of the Deal or Dud world came together fairly easy.

We begin with the “Pumpkin Carver.” We purchased this thing just before Halloween. It cost $9.99 and that was $9.99 to much. We took it to an expert at Tate Farm. (Thank you Tate Farm!)   When the pro at Tate Farm tried to carve the pumpkin, the blade broke almost immediately.   The Pumpkin Carver didn’t work at all.

There are many products that claim to do a great job of cooking bacon. The “Bacon Griller” is not one of them.   The Bacon Griller not only did NOT do a great job at cooking bacon, it strained our imagination as to why it would be a better way to cook bacon. The theory is, you put the Bacon Griller on the grill, and while you are cooking other things like steak or chicken, the Bacon Griller will cook the bacon you have draped over it. The Bacon Griller looks like a big metal tent.   The bacon took too long to cook. At the top of the Bacon Griller the bacon was almost well done, maybe even burnt, but the ends of the bacon slices were not close to being cooked. Also, the reservoir for the dripping grease wasn’t big enough and overflowed.

Number three on our list was a group of items that claim to cut down on glare while you drive, particularly at night. The NightVisor is probably the most high profile “As Seen on TV” item that falls into that category. It didn’t work as advertised. What it did do was change the color of the glare. Instead of a city awash in white light, the NightVisor changed everything to yellow. We tested several of these products and none of them worked.

If you have the impression that we test a bunch of products that cook bacon, you would be correct in that observation. We love many of them. The BaconWave was number two on our “Best of 2014” list. But the “Bacon Bowl” is number two on our worst list.   There are some big issues with the Bacon Bowl. The infomercial and the packaging makes the Bacon Bowl look like a big soup or cereal bowl. What it does is make a small bowl made of bacon. If you make it, you would be lucky to get two tablespoons of mac-and-cheese into it for a dish.   We just didn’t like. Give or take a couple of dollars you can find it, if you are desperate to have one, for around $10.

(Drum Roll please.) Now, for your reading entertainment, it’s time for the worst “Dud” of 2014.

The “Air Curler” was just bad. Real bad.

The Air Curler is a beer pitcher-looking contraption that has an opening on the side that you attach a blow dryer. The theory is, you put the hair in the curler, and attach the blow dryer, and then turn it on and the hair will curl. We took it to some pros. (Thank you So Vain Salon!) A professional stylist tried the Air Curler on another stylist with naturally curly hair. (Thanks Ashley!) The Air Curler wouldn’t curl her hair. The funny part of it the test, was that Ashley’s hair is naturally curly. It still wouldn’t curl it. I don’t remember what we paid for the Air Curler. Whatever it was, it was too much.

Now, if you are with the company and you get a search engine alert of this story and it ruins your day, email us. If you disagree, tell us why. We love updating stories with people who disagree with our tests.