Shutterstock / Brent Hofacker
One Twitter user spent all of 2017 tweeting at the Outback Steakhouse and the Outback Bowl Twitter handles in an effort to become the Human Bloomin’ Onion at the 2017/2018 Outback Bowl. Well, they fuckin’ did it.
Twitter user @celebrityhottub (real name Ryan Nanni) has a bit of a cult following to begin with, so this helped with the campaign. He’s got 74,000+ Twitter followers and works over at EveryDayShouldBeSaturday.com where they focus on, you guessed it, College Football. If you’ve been following @celebrityhottub for a while on Twitter then you’ve no doubt seen him tweeting at one of the various Outback accounts but it all went viral yesterday on Twitter Moments™ thanks to one of those ‘How many RT’s?!?’ tweets that gets shit done.
Outback came in with a very low number and within hours he’d locked up his position as the Human Bloomin’ Onion at the 2017/2018 Outback Bowl. Here’s how it all went down, starting on January 3rd of last year:
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/816450385904799744
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/817369883822489605
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/892184533029851139
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/867379164055310337
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/820021638855065601
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/913884466006953984
It was a strong effort. Here’s where things took a turn in his favor and he finally saw his dreams come true:
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/938119290359861248
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/938119650528890880
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/938119921661341701
He almost fucked up there, as noted below, by tagging @Outback instead of the Outback Bowl Twitter handle but it all appears to have worked out in the end:
here's the thing, nanni. i want you to fulfill your dream. but you don't exactly inspire confidence when you tag @outback the restaurant in your request, instead of @outbackbowl. don't worry, @outbackbowl, i assure you he's sufficiently competent to be your bloomin' onion mascot
— lieutenant winslow (@lt_winslow) December 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/938130533934125057
He’s got a fish on the line:
Those are Bloomin' big shoes to fill. 10,000 retweets! #FryinNanni
— Outback Steakhouse (@Outback) December 5, 2017
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/938123947475861504
The Belk Bowl wanted in on the fun:
hey @outbackbowl – this is going to be amazing.
— Duke's Mayo Bowl (@DukesMayoBowl) December 5, 2017
The Outback Bowl was blissfully unaware of how much Twitter clout this bro has:
You know it. Let's see if he can do it!
— ReliaQuest Bowl (@ReliaQuestBowl) December 5, 2017
Twitter users were stoked:
https://twitter.com/briancgrubb/status/938143817047461888
Now, the tweet’s up over 12K retweets and Outback conceded. They’ll be making him the Human Bloomin’ Onion at the 2017/2018 Outback Bowl:
We should’ve made that harder 😂 Send us a DM so we can get your measurements to the onion fryer. #thisishappening
— Outback Steakhouse (@Outback) December 5, 2017
Wearing it with pride:
https://twitter.com/celebrityhottub/status/938192403177136128
If this isn’t the single best College Football-related story of the 2017-2018 season then I don’t know what is. Just one man, following his dream, and getting to transform into a Human Bloomin’ Onion for one glorious day. Kind of makes me want to pop out and grab a half-Bloomin’ Onion for lunch. Most people don’t know that they’ll cut it in half for you and that way you can feel better about eating it all by yourself. Pro tips only.