Culture

Why Is Everyone On TikTok Obsessed With Watching A Man Eat Chicken?

"Chicken Leg Piece" has become the internet's most beloved catchphrase.

by Michelle Rennex 12 December 2019

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This impressive feat is made even more astounding with the knowledge that his most popular videos are just 20-second clips of him eating.

Who Is Chicken Leg Piece Man?

Ulhas, otherwise known as “Chicken Leg Piece Man”, has become the unofficial king of TikTok thanks to his quick, snappy mukbangs. Ulhas’ set up is quite simple: He records on his phone, sitting in front fabric backdrop with a plate of Indian cuisine.

But it wasn’t until he uttered the words “chicken leg piece”, that his videos really started taking off.

If you scroll back through all videos on the @ulhaskamathe account, you’ll find a mix of sketch comedy, food and reaction videos. For Ulhas, his earlier eating videos didn’t perform amazingly, so he tried different formats: No speaking, added sound effects, using external audio tracks, and none of it really worked.

That was until Ulhas started stating the name of what he was eating — especially when it was chicken drumsticks.

With his neck and arms adorned with chains and fingers full of rings, Ulhas eats various plates of chicken, rice, desserts and noodles. He calls a drumstick “chicken leg piece” but because of his accent it sounds like “chicken leg bis” — at least that’s what his 1.2 million followers believe.

Why Exactly Is Chicken Leg Bis So Damn Popular?

The #ChickenLegPiece and #ChickenLegBis tags on TikTok have amassed over 90 million views on the app. While there is no real method to the madness, Ulhas’ success can likely be attributed to his authenticity and relationship with his fans.

You see, Ulhas never uploaded his eating videos with the intention to go viral. He did not purposefully craft “chicken leg bis” to become the beast it is today. His pure joy while eating his meals on camera is what captured the hearts of everyone on TikTok.

At first, Ulhas didn’t know that people were waiting for him to say his well-loved phrase. But as he posted more videos, the comments began to pour in. “Where’s chicken leg bis?” commented one fan on a video that lacked the famous chicken dish. “WE WANT CHICKEN LEG BIS,” said another.

But his most recent video shows the joy he now finds in giving his fans exactly what they come for: that sweet, sweet chicken leg bis.

If you look under any of Ulhas’ chicken leg piece videos, you’ll find comments of a similar nature. “Checkin leg bis hits different,” is a popular one. “Chicken leg bis always comes correct,” reads another.

It’s this community and Ulhas’ understanding of what his fans want and come to him to see that has propelled his success on the app. But fans have started to notice that some of Chicken Leg Piece Man’s videos seemed forced to constantly provide the leg bis in each video.

In a video where Ulhas eats an Indian dessert of mohan thaal and fruit custard followed by a chicken leg piece, one viewer commented: “He did chickun leg bis bc he knows it’s what we here for.” In a more recent video, Ulhas downs an entire slice of Black Forest cake in under 10 seconds and then chases the dessert with chicken. “He’s becoming self aware, he knows y’all, he knows,” people begun to point out.

But this self awareness has just given Ulhas a new crop of food ideas — like playing with the idea of juice challenges and sweet meal combinations — with no signs of slowing down anytime soon.

The Chicken Leg Bis Memes

The more Ulhas uploaded, the bigger the chicken leg bis community grew. Soon Ulhas’ TikTok account was verified, with the app even sending him merch to jazz up his video backgrounds.

And so it began, people started to create their own chicken leg piece videos in honour of the “CEO of Chicken Leg Bis.”

First it started with reaction videos.