Woman Who Got Fired After McDonald's Meltdown On Her 'Cheat' Day Is Revealed To Be On A Dog Food Diet
Turns out yelling at McDonald's employees about ketchup was just the tip of the iceberg.
eviemwrites, bodacious_bobo/TikTok Another day, another person having a meltdown on customer service workers—videos of people going off on service workers have become such a daily occurrence in the past few years that it's hard to even be surprised by them anymore.
Such was the case of the woman the internet nicknamed "Ketchup Karen" after she went viral for angrily confronting McDonald's employees. But as a TikToker recently uncovered, there's more to "Ketchup Karen" than just an ordinary customer service tantrum—and it takes the story to a whole other level of bonkers.
The woman dubbed 'Ketchup Karen' was on a 'cheat day' from her 'dog food diet' at the time of her viral McDonald's meltdown.
Yes, you read that right. A dog food diet. But before we dig into a big bowl of that particular type of kibble, let's review who "Ketchup Karen" is.
"Ketchup Karen" went viral after berating McDonald's workers over the amount of ketchup on her hamburger. Video footage of the woman, whose real name is Tammy and goes by @tammyteanelson on TikTok, first went viral back in November 2022.
The video shows Tammy slamming her unwrapped McDonald's burger onto the counter while berating employees over the mistake they made in the amount of ketchup they applied to her hamburger—hence the "Ketchup Karen" nickname.
The video resurfaced and went viral again in February 2023 when Tammy herself reposted it to report that internet sleuths had identified her and gotten her fired from her job.
In her response, Tammy claimed she "literally did nothing wrong," justifying her behavior at the McDonald's by saying she was just trying to get her "weekly cheat meal" and simply wanted her food the way she wanted it. The "cheat meal" part of the story has turned out to be very important.
A TikToker discovered that 'Ketchup Karen's' cheat meal was a deviation from a diet in which she eats only dog food.
There are myriad absurd diet trends out there, but this one has to be up there as one of the wildest. After Tammy's response went viral, TikToker @bodacious_bobo took a trip through her TikTok feed and found a very telling video.
"Cheat meal," of course, refers to the method of dieting where you eat according to a specific, supposedly healthy plan for every meal each week except for one in which you are allowed to eat anything you want as a reward. Another variation of this method involves a "cheat day," in which you're allowed to eat as you wish for one entire day each week.
After Tammy's response went viral, TikToker @bodacious_bobo took a trip through her TikTok feed and found a video that revealed what sort of diet Tammy was "cheating" on during her McDonald's incident—one in which she eats dog kibble with oat milk on it like cereal, or covered in hot mustard with a side of brussels sprouts, as seen in her TikTok below.
"Now it all makes sense, McDonald's was her cheat meal from eating fu-king Beneful," @bodacious_bobo quipped, referencing the popular brand of dog kibble. "So this is why you were so feral over the burger huh," another TikTok user commented.
Tammy's video includes the hashtags "#turkey" and "#groundturkey," so it's possible the whole thing is an elaborate joke about how unappetizing ground turkey looks and how unpleasant dieting is. But Tammy has not made any effort to set the record straight if that is the case.
Eating dog food is not a safe way to lose weight.
That should hopefully go without saying but... well, if Tammy has actually been eating dog food, she's not the only one who's done it. As seen below, in 2020 a Texas man went viral for eating nothing but the dog food he sells as part of his own dog food line for 30 days.
He had some pretty shockingly beneficial health outcomes, from weight loss to lowered cholesterol—but there's a catch.
The dog food he makes is high-grade and made of similar ingredients that humans would eat—vastly different from what most dog food is made of.
Eating regular dog food isn't necessarily dangerous in small amounts, but it is often made of animal products deemed unfit for human consumption. And dog foods have added nutrients, vitamins and minerals specifically designed for dogs that can be very toxic to human beings in large quantities—like, say, if you were eating it every day for every meal except one cheat meal a week.
More importantly, turning to extreme diets like eating dog food to lose weight could be an indication of an eating disorder. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, dieting is the most important predictor of eating disorders, and studies have shown even moderate dieting makes some demographics, like teenagers, five times more likely to develop an eating disorder down the road.
Studies have also shown that 35% of "occasional dieters" progress into disordered eating, with as many as 25% of diets eventually progressing to an actual eating disorder that requires treatment.
Suffice it to say, there are far better and safer ways to manage your health than eating dog food. And if a diet makes you go off on McDonald's employees? Well... it might be time to reconsider the plan you're following.
Eating disorders are very common. If you or a loved one are struggling with disordered eating, call or text the National Eating Disorder Association Helpline at 1-800-931-2237 or via online chat.
John Sundholm is a news and entertainment writer who covers pop culture, social justice and human interest topics.