An Update About The KFC Pickle Burger Situation

Do you remember the post from April 17th, when I wrote about trying KFC's pickle burger?

As I was writing about trying the limited edition offering from the fast food chicken company, I went onto its website to help me describe what was exactly inside the pickle burger and the loaded fries with pickles. Upon visiting the website, I realised that what I had eaten days earlier was a significant contrast to the images, and descriptions, on the website.

I had planned to write about how much I enjoyed the burger before I realised there was not an abundance of pickles as the picture on the website promised. In fact, I genuinely cannot recall having a pickle in the burger itself.

I know for a fact I didn't have pickles in the loaded fries which contained the fries, popcorn chicken and pickle sauce. As already stated, I didn't realise until the moment I was in the process of writing the blog post. 

I enjoyed what I was given, even if it was missing its main selling point.

After writing the post, I thought I'd send it across to KFC because I wanted them to see the images of what I received. 

I felt their initial response wasn't fair. I had told them I wasn't looking for a refund. All I wanted was acknowledgement that I was not served what the advert promised. The person who replied to my query did not answer my question. Instead, I was instructed to seek a refund with Just Eat - the delivery platform I used for the meal.

As I stated, I wasn't looking for a refund. I repeated that to KFC and stated a manager should look into the situation because 'it is a trading standards issue'. After all, it was a pickle meal without one of the main draws if not THE main item.

A couple of days later, a manager from the KFC care team reached out to me and offered a £20 voucher for the situation.

One of the paragraph reads:

Our suppliers always take great care to ensure that our chicken and all ingredients used in our guests meals are to the best quality before they are provided to us. Our chefs and front of house team then double-check our guests' orders when prepping, cooking and packaging to ensure everything is as it should be, so they are really puzzled about how this may have happened to your meal. However, we do understand this does not make up for what has happened. The management team will log this on their internal system to ensure that the feedback is provided to the team.

Am I being paranoid or am I meant to take the line about the staff being puzzled about how this happened to my meal to be they are calling my claim bogus?

That's how it feels every time I reread it.

I have no reason to lie. There's a handful of KFC content here on the blog. I don't believe I ever had anything to complain about it any of them. Heck, even the one from April 17th wasn't a true complaint because I stated I had enjoyed what I was given, even if what I received was not what was advertised.

If that's not what the 'puzzled' term implies, then - fair enough.

I've thanked KFC for the £20 voucher. They settled the issue well even though they've left me wondering if they believe me or not.

I Try Pepsi Max Tropical

I tried the latest Pepsi Max flavour to hit store shelves last night.

Pepsi Max Tropical promises to give the customer a fruity taste alongside what you'd expect from the Pepsi brand.

In my experience, I didn't get that. There was no true hit of flavour when I sampled mine. It came across as extremely bland.

Certainly not something I would ever go out of my way to try again.

Apparently, this flavour is out to replace Pepsi Max Mango. If true, I find that to be a shame because I enjoyed the taste from that version of Pepsi. This newer one is a miss. 

Very disappointing.

A Wake Up

I watched almost all of the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft in the early hours of Friday morning. 

It's always interesting to watch the new players find out where their professional careers will begin. However, as a Colts fan, there was nothing in regards to that team for me. That's because the team gave up their first round pick (and next year's as well, for that matter) to the New York Jets in order to bring Sauce Gardner into the fold.

Indianapolis had picks in the second and third rounds, so I tuned in last night's coverage to watch. 

I didn't make it. Well, not in the way I had planned.

I must have fallen asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow. 

Anyway, as per usual, I was given a wake up call by Oreo. He often stirs me up in the middle of the night wanting me to lean outside of the bed and give him a belly rub before he jumps in beside me. 

He did it again last night. Only this time, as I was manoeuvring my way to lean over the side of my bed to see Oreo, I caught a glimpse of the TV.

Pat McAfee was on the screen and was about to announce the Colts' third round pick.

I would say that was perfect timing. It wasn't, however. It was PURRRRfect timing.

Indianapolis selected Georgia linebacker - CJ Allen - and A.J. Haulcy, who played safety at Louisiana State University, with the 53rd and 78th overall picks.

Another Fake DPD Text Message Received

I received another scam text message this afternoon.

As you'll see immediately below, the scammers claim to be the DPD parcel company and allege that a delivery was attempted at 12:26 today. The fake parcel handoff couldn't be completed 'due to a missing signature and unconfirmed recipient details'. 

I am then expected to click on the link to reschedule the delivery. I must do it ASAP because they stress that my item will be 'held until 25 April 2026'.

I obviously didn't click on the URL because reading the text is as far as I'll go in reacting to it. Well, that and writing this blog post about it.

The text has been reported as spam. 

'NFL Fantasy -> ESPN Fantasy'

My days of playing fantasy American football could be done.

Late last night, I received an email from NFL Fantasy with the subject line 'NFL Fantasy -> ESPN Fantasy' indicating that, from the upcoming season, ESPN's fantasy offering will be the official home of fantasy football.

That wasn't welcome news for yours truly. 

As I've written in the past, I have been in a league for at least thirteen years. I'd even go so far as to state 2026 could be my fifteenth season (at an estimate). Even though I've been playing in the league for so long, I don't know any of the other players in real life. 

In fact, outside of the league, I don't even know them virtually. 

I have no way of reaching out to them if the league isn't carried over from NFL Fantasy to ESPN Fantasy.

It has been a dire situation for fantasy NFL over the past few years. First, DraftKings pulled out of the UK, thus ending the fun I had playing DFS each weekend. 

Now regular fantasy is being compromised with ESPN taking over NFL Fantasy.

I hold out hope that the league manages to cross over. It'll be something to watch out for as the spring summer turns to early autumn. 

3 Down, 1 To Go In 'Hulk Hogan: Real American' Viewing

As soon as I had everything sorted out this morning, I switched on the new Hulk Hogan docuseries that has been released on Netflix today.

The four-episode programme covers the rise, fall and death of Terry Bollea - the man the world knows as Hulk Hogan.

All Hulk Hogan projects requires taking a punch (not a pinch!) of salt because some of the stories he recounted range from exaggerations to flat out lies. I have taken the same approach to this series and, so far, I have felt it has been the best way to enjoy the content.

I've watched plenty of Hogan documentaries over the years. This one is obviously the first to be released posthumously. It doesn't feel like a memorial piece, however. Well, not yet. I am three out of four episodes in.

Each instalment has ended with a song from the Hulk Rules album playing along with the credits. The first was 'Hulkster in the House'. Episode two had 'I Want to be a Hulkamaniac' (Dave Sullivan's WCW theme tune) while the third ep closed with 'American Made' - Hogan's early WCW theme. I suspect the final part will close with Hogan's ballad, 'Hulkster in Heaven'. 

One of the most fascinating additions to this document, contrasted with previous ones I've seen through my lifetime, is there are a lot of video from Hulk Hogan's home life with now ex-wife Linda, Brooke (Daughter) and Nick (Son). This footage, as far as I'm aware, hasn't been seen publicly before. It added to the abundance of other film from Hogan's actual career.

The choice of talking heads has a balance. They range from friends like Jimmy Hart through to some of his political adversaries like Bret 'Hitman' Hart and Jesse 'The Body' Ventura - two people who have been outspoken about Hogan.

Speaking of politics, albeit not of the wrestling kind, Donald Trump was interviewed for the series at the request of Hogan himself. The current President of the United States spoke glowingly about Hulk Hogan and the way he worked a match. Trump refused to do Hogan's finger point spot, when prompted by the interviewer, though. He did so by pointing out he had already given them enough.

As I've stated, I am three episodes deep. The final part will cover Hogan's fall from grace. I'm intrigued to see how that will be spotlighted.

Draft Mode '26

The 2026 NFL Draft begins on Thursday. 

It is possibly the most perfect time for it because I had WWE WrestleMania over the weekend and now can tune myself immediately into Draft Mode.

Having Mania immediately followed by the NFL Draft days later is one of the silver linings of having late WrestleManias.

Well, that's how I feel about it as of this moment.