What is the viral McOcean burger and is it real?

Chances are that if you’ve been scrolling through TikTok, you’ve come across a viral burger called the McOcean. The crazy burger has sparked rumors and left viewers wondering if it’s even real.

The original video that displayed the viral McOcean burger was posted by TikTok user @maligoshik on June 22, and has accumulated over 4.1 million views since. 

In the video, she unpacks a box with the name ‘McOcean’ written on top in the classic McDonald’s font, before revealing a rather unusual concoction. Inside, there is a Filet-O-Fish patty topped with three small octopuses, some mini shrimps, and tartar sauce.

The short video doesn’t provide any context about the burger itself, and ends after she takes a bite of the burger, simply telling viewers, “I like it.”

It became a major talking point on the platform, with many viewers confused as to whether or not the product was legitimate, having never seen anything like it before. 

“Where is the McOcean burger at?” one asked, while another said, “I can’t find ANYTHING on this sandwich besides this video.”

It blew up so much that former corporate McDonald’s chef, Mike Haracz, even responded. In his video, he told viewers that he believed the video was fake for two key reasons. 

The first was that “McDonald’s has to put its ingredients’ nutritional information out there in the world, and when you search the McOcean burger, nothing comes up.”

The second reason, which he said only a trained McDonald’s chef would pick up on, is that “when you make a Fillet O Fish, you have one side that has the cheese and one side that has the fish. 

“The other side has a bunch of the sauce, but if you look at this picture (screenshot of open-faced McOcean) it looks like there’s a lot of sauce under the octopus, and then a little bit left on top of the crown. This means she opened up the Filet O Fish, added a bunch of stuff to it, then closed it, meaning that it’s probably not true.”

This isn’t the first time that a fake fast food item has gone viral on TikTok, In December 2023, a rumor spread that Wendy’s was actually selling crab legs.