{"id":888540,"date":"2026-09-11T20:26:11","date_gmt":"2026-09-11T20:26:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888540\/"},"modified":"2026-09-11T20:26:11","modified_gmt":"2026-09-11T20:26:11","slug":"david-zieglers-hungry-jacks-tiktok-ignites-aussie-american-row","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/888540\/","title":{"rendered":"David Ziegler\u2019s Hungry Jack\u2019s TikTok ignites Aussie-American row"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A whopping debate has unfolded after a visitor from the US made a video about Hungry Jack\u2019s. <\/p>\n<p>Bodybuilder David Ziegler, also known as ZieglerMonster, boasts a large following on social media, and he\u2019d been visiting Sydney to tour and promote local gyms. <\/p>\n<p>Want more lifestyle news? Download our <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/onelink.to\/wpmth9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">new app <\/a>for even more coverage<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe pretty much only focus on gyms that are privately owned and on the smaller side, non-big-box commercial gyms,\u201d the 57-year-old told news.com.au. <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"poster-img\" src=\"https:\/\/content.api.news\/v3\/images\/bin\/4e89624b3786fe71f16e918d761213a2\" data-sctrack=\"op-poster-img\" alt=\"'Crazy': Anger as Hungry Jacks selling cult item\" fetchpriority=\"high\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a way to make sure that those gyms always have a voice and they\u2019re able to be found. The big box commercial gyms, they don\u2019t need any more help.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>During his visit adding gyms to his app, Guest Pass, he stumbled upon Hungry Jack\u2019s, which he noticed had a striking similarity to Burger King back in the States. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cI didn\u2019t know the story, so I thought if other people saw the logo without a Burger King from the States that they would be like, \u2018Hey, look at that,\u2019\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Hungry Jack\u2019s History 101<\/p>\n<p>When Canadian-born businessman Jack Cowin attempted to bring the US fast-food giant to Australia, he hit an immediate legal headache. <\/p>\n<p>A local takeaway business in Adelaide had already trademarked the name \u201cBurger King\u201d. <\/p>\n<p><a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/lifestyle\/food\/restaurants-bars\/how-a-random-us-brand-became-the-household-name-hungry-jacks-in-australia\/news-story\/cef292929099d8dd2a9ff60b8deaf93e\" target=\"_blank\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"cef292929099d8dd2a9ff60b8deaf93e\" data-tgev-label=\"lifestyle\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Unable to buy the name<\/a>, Mr Cowin chose \u201cHungry Jack\u201d from a list of pre-registered US trademarks, added an apostrophe-S, and opened Australia\u2019s first Hungry Jack\u2019s in Perth in 1971. <\/p>\n<p>By 2001, Mr Cowin fought Burger King in court and won over a breach of contract, before absorbing and rebranding all Australian Burger King locations into Hungry Jack\u2019s. <\/p>\n<p>But it appears the battle has respawned again in the form of <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news.com.au\/topics\/tiktok\" target=\"_blank\" data-tgev=\"event119\" data-tgev-container=\"bodylink\" data-tgev-order=\"tiktok\" data-tgev-label=\"topics\" data-tgev-metric=\"ev\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">TikTok <\/a>drama, exposing an undesirable trait in Aussies worthy of some self-reflection.<\/p>\n<p>Are we being unreasonably mean to Americans?<\/p>\n<p>In <a class=\"body-link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.tiktok.com\/@zieglermonster\/video\/7677011487281384718\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">the video <\/a>Mr Ziegler made about the fast food giant, he made several comparisons. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAustralia, what the heck is this? Hungry Jack\u2019s? This is Burger King,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>The American pointed out both establishments offered the signature Whopper, jokingly claiming after a bite of a burger it was the \u201cking of nothing\u201d. <\/p>\n<p>His video caught the attention of Aussie creator Croc Turnbull, who made a response video declaring the restaurant \u201cAmerican s**t\u201d before calling Americans \u201cf**king dumb as** seppos\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou guys invented Google. Why don\u2019t you guys try f**king using it for once,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>He also suggested that the American \u201cput the f**king weights down\u201d and instead \u201cpick up a book\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019ve made this whole video trying to bag out Australians,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>However, Mr Ziegler clapped back, fact-checking the creator\u2019s continual labelling of Hungry Jack\u2019s as \u201cAmerican\u201d, despite it being started by a Canadian and now owned by an Australian company.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI made this video because I found something very cool and I wanted to share it with my audience, and I did it in a fun and cheeky way,\u201d Mr Ziegler explained. <\/p>\n<p>He explained in the clip how his work gives back to the communities he visits, gaining recognition for small, independently owned gyms. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou were extremely mean to me. You belittled me, bullied me, you made fun of my entire country, you made fun of my intelligence. You made fun of everything that you could instead of just having a conversation,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>In the comments section of his post, other Americans raced to pinpoint a common theme.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe hates America for literally no reason,\u201d a user pointed out. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cAustralians are absolutely obsessed with Americans,\u201d another said. <\/p>\n<p>A third added: \u201cWhy does Australia have such a one-sided beef with us? I never could figure it out!\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Despite the bitterness, Mr Ziegler told news.com.au that many of the Aussies he encountered were amazing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve travelled all over the world, and Australia was such a lovely place to be,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe locals were incredibly welcoming and warm, and we felt invited and at home everywhere. Not to mention, some of the best gyms in the entire world are in Australia.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>news.com.au has contacted Croc Turnbull for comment. <\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.tiktok.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A whopping debate has unfolded after a visitor from the US made a video about Hungry Jack\u2019s. Bodybuilder&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":888541,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[458158,458139,427202,386810,458155,458128,458106,215483,381939,458114,448610,425670,458157,458141,424434,387950,442055,384483,400747,450008,458113,379533,458103,458160,458162,376733,382597,376594,458120,406222,376637,458143,3443,458134,2095,620,458110,35486,458149,458122,458145,458107,458117,458109,64,43336,458156,458136,27621,63,9461,64057,8962,458123,458146,318340,99,458151,458130,7781,3895,1108,458129,71300,456868,389528,525,113,458124,30527,1678,458138,455695,415882,378240,387253,401490,458108,458131,458121,458142,458140,458133,458135,445544,458119,458137,381654,458125,458150,185072,455202,46,458105,21393,458152,28852,1314,458116,458154,458127,670,390661,36832,413724,410732,387848,458147,458111,458144,381869,383905,378910,8732,451317,458161,458118,458104,411529,451225,263253,452168,377554,385284,382838,458112,458102,399479,376533,204813,458153,376738,54798,391528,458126,458115,458148,458159,381386,458132],"class_list":["post-888540","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-obsessed","tag-s-continual-labelling","tag-s-first","tag-s-history","tag-seppos","tag-insane-price","tag-458106","tag-215483","tag-a-bite","tag-a-bizarre-aussie-obsession","tag-a-book","tag-a-breach","tag-a-burger","tag-a-burger-king","tag-a-canadian","tag-a-cheeky-video","tag-a-common-theme","tag-a-conversation","tag-a-feud","tag-a-fun","tag-a-large-following","tag-a-list","tag-a-local-takeaway-business","tag-a-response-video","tag-a-striking-similarity","tag-a-third","tag-a-user","tag-a-video","tag-a-visitor","tag-a-voice","tag-a-way","tag-a-whopping-debate","tag-adelaide","tag-all-australian-burger-king-locations","tag-america","tag-american","tag-american-st","tag-americans","tag-americans-and-aussies","tag-an-apostrophe-s","tag-an-australian-company","tag-an-immediate-legal-headache","tag-an-undesirable-trait","tag-any-more-help","tag-au","tag-aussie","tag-aussie-creator-croc-turnbull","tag-aussie-trait","tag-aussies","tag-australia","tag-australians","tag-bag","tag-beef","tag-bodybuilder-david-ziegler","tag-both-establishments","tag-burger-king","tag-business","tag-canadian-born-businessman-jack-cowin","tag-cheeky-way","tag-comment","tag-contract","tag-court","tag-croc-turnbull","tag-debate","tag-even-more-coverage","tag-fking","tag-fun","tag-google","tag-guest-pass","tag-gyms","tag-heat","tag-his-app","tag-his-post","tag-his-video","tag-his-visit","tag-his-work","tag-hungry-jack","tag-independently-owned-gyms","tag-krispy-kreme-doughnuts","tag-literally-no-reason","tag-local-gyms","tag-more-lifestyle-news","tag-mr-cowin","tag-mr-ziegler","tag-my-audience","tag-my-entire-country","tag-my-intelligence","tag-news-com-au","tag-non-big-box-commercial-gyms","tag-other-americans","tag-other-people","tag-our-new-app","tag-perth","tag-pre-registered-us-trademarks","tag-recognition","tag-several-comparisons","tag-small","tag-social-media","tag-some-self-reflection-are","tag-such-a-lovely-place","tag-such-a-one-sided-beef","tag-sydney","tag-the-57-year-old","tag-the-american","tag-the-attention","tag-the-aussies","tag-the-battle","tag-the-best-gyms","tag-the-big-box-commercial-gyms","tag-the-bitterness","tag-the-clip","tag-the-comments-section","tag-the-communities","tag-the-creator","tag-the-entire-world","tag-the-exposure","tag-the-fking-weights","tag-the-fast-food-giant","tag-the-form","tag-the-heck","tag-the-king","tag-the-locals","tag-the-logo","tag-the-name","tag-the-restaurant","tag-the-signature-whopper","tag-the-smaller-side","tag-the-states","tag-the-story","tag-the-us","tag-the-us-fast-food-giant","tag-the-video","tag-the-world","tag-this-video","tag-this-whole-video","tag-those-gyms","tag-tiktok-drama","tag-tiktok-feud","tag-you-guys","tag-zieglermonster"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=888540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/888540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/888541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=888540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=888540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.news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