--- 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: 2026-04-13T07:48:34.990Z 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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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=d7c4716a-0de0-4e06-9d28-b8dbb820dd35&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 8, 2017 7:27 PM UTC  Colonel Sanders' image on bucket-shaped sign above KFC drive-thru Colonel Sanders' image on bucket-shaped sign above KFC drive-thru RapidEye/Getty Images  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":"2026-04-13T07:48:34.990Z","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"}}]}] ```