‘I feel lied to’: IKEA customer wins turkey-sized meatball. It’s not what viewers expected

28.12.2023 03:30

The Daily Dot

Meet one of the few lucky winners of IKEA's first-ever turkey-sized meatball giveaway.

IKEA's meatballs are a fan-favorite. People love them so much that they'll go to the infamously large and maze-like furniture store just to get their hands on the tasty and affordable dish.

This year, the furniture retailer opened up a giveaway as iconic as its classic meatball, giving away 30 turkey-sized Ikea meatballs (weighing almost 10 pounds) for a few lucky families in the U.K. to enjoy over the holiday season.

And for non-meat eaters, it offered vegan-friendly "Veggieball Christmas Trees," which appear to be a pile of smaller vegan meatballs.

"Combining the scale of the UK’s favourite Christmastime poultry with the deliciousness of the IKEA meatball, the Turkey-Sized Meatball is a festive centerpiece that’s likely to prompt laughter and joy," IKEA said of its huge meatball.

Well, one of the lucky winners shared their journey on TikTok. Just a few days ago, Jamie Smith (@smiffypro) went to his local IKEA to pick up his prize. As he's waiting in a relatively busy IKEA cafeteria, an employee comes toward him with a large, seemingly insulated, blue IKEA bag in hand.

The bag appears quite heavy.

Once outside the store, Smith pulls out the meatball and holds it up, almost like Simba in The Lion King. At first, the meatball looks rather disappointing in size, especially since Smith can hold it up with just one hand.

However, the limited-run meatball does look larger in the car, where Smith has it comically strapped into the passenger seat like a person.

The video has more than 700,000 views and more than 140 comments.

"Dont ask me why i thought it would be bigger (might add i never saw a cooked turkey before lol)," a top comment read.

"I feel lied to, that is NOT a turkey sized meatball," another said.

"No, it's so small," a third wrote.

@smiffypro Come to @IKEAUK with me to collect my turkey-sized meatball. Part 2 coming later this week! #IKEA #Meatball #Scandi #Sweden #Christmas #FeelingFestive #Win #ABBA #Food #ChristmasEve #ChristmasDay #Festive #fyp #feliznavidad ♬ Hung Up (SDP Extended Vocal) [Edit] - Madonna

It's possible that while the competition was held in the U.K., the viral video hit an American audience that is used to oversized poultry, especially massive turkeys because of Thanksgiving tradition. The meatball could, in theory, be the size of an average turkey abroad.

For those curious about how Smith managed to cook what is still a ginormous meatball, he showed the cooking process in a follow-up video.

Included in the winning cooking kit was a thermometer (to make sure the meat was not only cooked to a food-safe temperature but to make sure it was also cooked through to its core), gravy, lingonberry sauce, frozen masked potatoes, and, of course, the iconic meatball.

In a reply comment, he shared that cooking the gigantic meatball took more than three hours, but it was worth it. While one commenter said that the hunk of meat looked dry, Smith politely shared that "it was actually so moist!"

"The cooking instructions said to add water to the oven, it was steamy," he added.

The Daily Dot reached out to Smith for comment via TikTok direct message.

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