down the tubes 

Popular UK expression, especially 20 or thirty years ago = when your life or a situation is fast deteriorating or going rapidly downhill

Tubes = probably has its origins in toilet tubes or pipes

We were good at first but our relationship is going down the tubes

Our season has gone totally down the tubes and looks like we'll be relegated

down the tubes by notquitepatrick February 21, 2020

gone down the tubes

Completely ruined, lost, or wasted, with no way to retrieve it, often used to describe old neighborhoods or iconic cultural eras that faded away into corporate spaces.

"The old, gritty 1970s punk scene in NYC has officially gone down the tubes."

gone down the tubes by WMH01 June 15, 2026

down the tube 

Another way of saying that something is really going to pot -- when you say such-and-such is going down the tube, it is spiraling downhill extremely rapidly.

Man this drone flight is really going down the tube...O FUCK, There's a tree!!! (*CRASH!!!*)

That woman's performance on American Idol started to go down the tube when she forgot a critical lyric to the song she was performing.

down the tube by Telephony October 8, 2018

Down the Fauci tube 

Going Down the rabbit hole, off on some unknown tangent

Nicolle Wallace has gone down the Fauci tube, away from her job description

Down the Fauci tube by Uncle Dimma January 10, 2022