As you might have witnessed, a picture of a young man flipping a “massive wave” of delicious-looking fried rice in a pan took the internet by storm.
The rice in the screenshot of a YouTube prank video was totally artificial and totally marvelous to look at. People spent a good amount of time sharing the picture and came to the natural conclusion that the person in question was not really creating a wave of a rice, but it was great fodder.
Affectionately called “the wok guy” on Reddit, he explained in his video that it was all for the sake of a good laugh to begin with.
YouTuber Kanta of Mizutamari Bond pulled off the prank to astound his partner Tommy, for their YouTube channel MTV Tokyo fried rice Guys. The clip will show that his unsuspecting collaborator Tommy was apparently in for quite the surprise when he walked into the kitchen. As for sculpting the solid fried rice “wave,” it cost roughly $4,000. But you can’t put a price tag on shock value.
The clip of the momentous cooking feat that never really happened been viewed nearly 6 million times as of Friday.
And as for the picture, the collective minds of Twitter rode that wave as far as they could take it with the utmost creativity in the form of Photoshop transformations and memes. You can watch the makings of the everyone’s favorite new visual below.
Things got oceanic.
Tea time anyone?
Is that the wok guy making a cameo in Ratatouille?
James Harden made an appearance.
The prankster did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this story.
More Must-Reads from TIME
- Why Trump’s Message Worked on Latino Men
- What Trump’s Win Could Mean for Housing
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2024
- Sleep Doctors Share the 1 Tip That’s Changed Their Lives
- Column: Let’s Bring Back Romance
- What It’s Like to Have Long COVID As a Kid
- FX’s Say Nothing Is the Must-Watch Political Thriller of 2024
- Merle Bombardieri Is Helping People Make the Baby Decision
Contact us at letters@time.com