Fans of The Office are reveling in the latest “Easter egg” discovery to go viral, after NBC sneaked an inside joke into its terms and conditions.
“Kevin’s famous chili” is a fan-favorite from the award-winning series, with the food playing a starring role at the start of the “Casual Friday” episode in season five. It seems that NBC’s streaming service Peacock is fond of that bit too, after secretly slipping an inspired recipe into the service’s terms and conditions.
In the show, Kevin Malone brings his “famous chili” into the office as part of an annual ritual. When he arrives however, he spills it all over the floor before desperately trying to clean it up, unsuccessfully.
As shown in a viral TikTok video however, Peacock has used the much-loved scene as ammunition for a hard-to-spot Easter egg for fans. TikToker and The Office fan Mckenzie Floyd shared a clip of her boyfriend scrolling through the terms and conditions on a TV screen, something she says he does often.
As they scrolled down, the ingredients and instructions for “Kevin’s famous chili” appeared on screen. “Is it because no one ever reads these?” asked Floyd in the caption.
On Peacocks’ terms page, the recipe isn’t so hidden, being mentioned almost immediately. “Here, you’ll find answers to your burning legal questions about our service (plus a recipe inspired by Kevin’s famous chili from The Office!)”
According to the recipe, the ingredients are: four dried ancho chiles, two tbs neutral oil, three lbs ground beef, two medium yellow onions, six cloves of garlic, one large jalapeno, one tbs dried oregano, two tsp ground cumin, 1.4 tsp cayenne pepper, two tbs tomato paste, one 12oz bottle of beer, three cans of pinto beans, three cups of beef stock, 2 and a ½ cups of chopped ripe tomatoes and two tbs kosher salt.
Fans of the show will already know the main secret to perfecting the chili, as explained by Kevin himself: undercooking the onions.
Makers of movies and TV programs are fond of including hidden references or in-jokes, known as Easter eggs, that will please die-hard fans.
With over 100,000 views, the TikTok video left The Office fans equally confused and amazed. “Someone got confused in the job description,” commented one user.
“Peacock just doesn’t want us to forget they are the only platform that streams The Office,” joked another.
The Office is only available to stream on Peacock, after it reclaimed the series from Netflix in 2021 when its streaming broadcast rights expired at the end of 2020. As per ANTENNA data, Peacock gained more paid sign-ups thanks to the arrival of The Office than it did for its nationwide launch or any other programming event at the time.
It isn’t the first time that Peacock has hidden a recipe in plain sight. During its beginnings, the streaming service sneaked a chocolate cake recipe into the terms and conditions, just like the chili recipe.
Unlike with Kevin’s famous chili however, the purpose for the “just-like-Grandmas-used-to-make” cake recipe in the terms is still up in the air.
