The DWTS winner uploaded an apology video in response to the outrage. Photo / TikTok
The DWTS winner uploaded an apology video in response to the outrage. Photo / TikTok
Who knew eating chocolate could upset so many people?
Certainly not New Zealand influencer and mental health advocate Jazz Thornton, who caused an uproar this week when a video of her eating a Terry’s Chocolate Orange went viral.
The 2022 Dancing with the Stars winner took to her TikTok account earlier this week to share a video of her trying the British treat for the first time.
Unwrapping the orange-shaped chocolate, Thornton said, “My friend from England brought me back this Terry’s Orange thing and I just unboxed it earlier and everyone was like, ‘You must try it!’
“I’ve never had it before. It’s quite heavy, I thought it would be like a shell.”
She unwrapped the chocolate treat but didn't tap it first - a necessity according to her British followers. Photo / TiKTok
Looking confused and unsure how to separate the pieces, Thornston struggled with the chocolate and said “How do you ... how does one ... oh, it’s like little orange slices!”
According to the treat’s packaging, it should be consumed by first tapping the chocolate, which will separate the pieces that look like orange slices.
After a few tries, the star could not seem to break open the orange-shaped chocolate and proceeded to take a bite out of it, which caused it to break apart. “It’s definitely a slice,” she said.
“Oh God, that’s good,” she mumbled through a mouthful of chocolate.
The act quickly caught the attention of TikTok users in the UK, who were horrified by the video.
Earning over two million views and 12,000 comments, the 27-year-old star was mocked in the comment section. One person said, “Someone taking a full bite of a Terry’s Chocolate Orange is one of the most cursed things.”
The star caused outrage when she bit into the chocolate treat. Photo / TikTok
Another commented, “I am absolutely mortified”, while a third said, “I actually gasped when she bit into it.”
A fourth person was more helpful and said, “you missed the directions on the box to slam it!”
The outrage has caught the attention of not only her UK followers but media outlets around the world - including Terry’s themselves, who shared a snippet from her video on their Instagram account with the caption, “Who else has been personally victimised by Jazz Thornton?”
Thornton was a good sport about the backlash, though, and posted a follow-up video captioned “apology to the United Kingdom”.
The video has since had over three million views and sees the DWTS winner say, “I did something yesterday that was very offensive and I didn’t know it was very offensive until you guys were calling me out on it.
“And that was that I didn’t know that you had to smash this before you ate it, okay.” She laughed.
Thornton went on to say she couldn’t find instructions on the packaging telling her to smash it. She tapped the remaining chocolate on a hard surface, resulting in the chocolate breaking apart.
Comments under the video were mostly light-hearted, with one person saying, “You will forever be famous in the UK as the girl that bit into a Terry’s chocolate orange.”
