Consumer Reports recently put the king of paper towels to the test to see if it lives up to its claims.

For decades, Bounty's TV commercials have boasted about its strength.

TV Commercial: " ...strong even when wet."

More recently, bowling balls have replaced a coffee cup in the commercials.

TV Commercial: "Put them through the same test, and other towels just fall apart. Only Bounty is quilted, so it's stronger."

To check the bowling ball claim, Consumer Reports' Leslie Ware ventured outside the organization's testing laboratory to a nearby bowling alley to see if the commercial's claims could hold water.

And testers back at the lab prepared the same test shown in the commercial. They pitted Bounty against a Brawny paper towel -- the pure white with scrubbing circles. Testers decided to use Brawny because it's the leading two-ply competitor to Bounty.

Just as in the commercial, testers put two sheets of each towel into a hoop. The bowling ball was placed on top of the sheets. Then a measured amount of water was poured over the bowling ball.

Consumer Reports says the Brawny towel struck out right away. Given the same test, Bounty's towels held.

"It looks dubious on the ad," Ware said. "So, you wonder if it's really true. But we found it is true. Bounty will hold up the bowling ball, and Brawny wouldn't. But you have to wonder how often you're going to use a paper towel to hold up a bowling ball."