Had a cheap spinner (maybe a cardinal??) m blow up on me at Montauk once about !984. Not that big a fish , maybe 25 pounds but it was a mush metal reel. By blow up I mean parts from inside the reel were spewing out the front around where the spool meets the skirt. We told people it "exploded" !!
There were screws and a big wire?? and b u s h ng materials all falling out the front of the reel.
Anyway , i just unscrewed it from the rod and tossed it in a barrel. Moved on to the next cheap reel. After that season I went out and bought some Penn SS reels. No more blow ups , just anti reverses failing!!