--- title: KFC Rewards Guy Who Cracked 11 Herbs and Spices Code description: KFC has rewarded the Twitter user who discovered its account only follows the five Spice Girls and six men named Herb with a priceless gift. canonical: https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-11-08T19:27:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-12T08:27:45.517Z og:title: The Viral Guy Who Cracked KFC's Code Got a Glorious Reward og:description: "Dreams DO come true" og:url: https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d5ee4b5886fc3e2/6988e50986f68e72606e7274/kfc-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=505&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 505 og:image:height: 284 og:image:alt: KFC-Twitter-Following og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The Viral Guy Who Cracked KFC's Code Got a Glorious Reward twitter:description: "Dreams DO come true" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d5ee4b5886fc3e2/6988e50986f68e72606e7274/kfc-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=505&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # The Viral Legend Who Cracked KFC's Hilarious Code Just Got the Most Glorious Reward > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=dcd3b72b-352e-40a9-adc9-9f8cd51899a3&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1) ## Video: KFC Launches Online Retail Destination [Watch (HLS stream): KFC Launches Online Retail Destination](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nNY5y23o.m3u8) (0:36)  _Published 2017-07-13. KFC launched an online retail destination so you can dress up in your favorite fried chicken apparel and decor._  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 8, 2017 7:27 PM UTC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 8, 2017 7:27 PM UTC It turns out that intense Internet sleuthing can occasionally pay off. Following Twitter user Mike Edgette’s [viral discovery](https://twitter.com/edgette22/status/921103567771131904) that the official [KFC](http://time.com/5007964/kfc-fried-chicken-bath-bombs/) account only follows the five former [Spice Girls](http://time.com/4801195/ginger-spice-girl-apology/) and six men named Herb — a reference to the secret blend of 11 herbs and spices in [Colonel Sanders’](http://time.com/4770024/kfc-romance-novel-mothers-day/) fried chicken recipe — the fast food giant has rewarded Edgette with a priceless gift. “[@KFC](https://twitter.com/kfc) follows 11 people,” he wrote in an October [tweet](https://twitter.com/edgette22/status/921103567771131904) that has been liked over 715,000 times and retweeted more than 322,000\. “Those 11 people? 5 Spice Girls and 6 guys named Herb. 11 Herbs & Spices. I need time to process this.” Now, Edgette has shared that KFC thanked him for his investigative work by commissioning a portrait of its founder giving him a piggyback ride through a beautiful woodland landscape. “Dreams DO come true,” he tweeted on Saturday alongside several shots of the glorious painting, adding the hashtag [#GiddyUpColonel](https://twitter.com/hashtag/GiddyUpColonel?src=hash). “Thanks [@kfc](https://twitter.com/kfc).” > [](https://twitter.com/edgette22/status/921103567771131904) > [](https://twitter.com/edgette22/status/926808568820649984) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/"},"headline":"The Viral Legend Who Cracked KFC's Hilarious Code Just Got the Most Glorious Reward","datePublished":"2017-11-08T19:27:50.000Z","dateModified":"2026-10-12T08:27:45.517Z","description":"\"Dreams DO come true\"","url":"https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","viral","twitter","KFC"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d5ee4b5886fc3e2/6988e50986f68e72606e7274/kfc-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt2d5ee4b5886fc3e2/6988e50986f68e72606e7274/kfc-twitter.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"KFC-Twitter-Following","caption":"Colonel Sanders' image on bucket-shaped sign above KFC drive-thru","creditText":"RapidEye/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/","name":"The Viral Legend Who Cracked KFC's Hilarious Code Just Got the Most Glorious Reward"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"KFC Launches Online Retail Destination","description":"KFC launched an online retail destination so you can dress up in your favorite fried chicken apparel and decor.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/nNY5y23o/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-07-13T00:36:24.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/nNY5y23o.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/","duration":"PT36S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5015515/kfc-viral-tweet-reward/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```