Going from flab to fa has seen Kiwi foodie Daniel and his sidekick Fraser become a global icon. Photo / Troy Goodall
As he slips into a hot-pink G-string to whip up a ragu or seductively squeezes pineapple juice over his serious six-pack while mixing margaritas, it’s hard to imagine Daniel Rankin was once a chubby kid who dreaded going shirtless.
“With cultural practices like Samoan dancing, I’d always be embarrassed to take my top off,” admits the TikTok foodie genius behind the channel @mancancooknz, which sees Daniel, 32, fronting sexy cooking videos featuring his cute pug dog Fraser. “I got bullied in school and people would say, ‘You’re fat!’”
Growing up in Samoa, he quickly developed a love of food. After his parents split up, Daniel was mostly raised by his grandmother Louisa, while his dad Patrick worked as a pilot.
“My grandma would cook high-fat, high-carb food like taro, bread and rice,” he says, adding that he and his brothers, Patrick and Mikey, didn’t see his mum Ivy for years.
As his weight climbed to 110kg, Daniel’s self-esteem plummeted – until, at age 14, he got into the kitchen himself.
“I started cooking eggs, and having tuna, taro, watercress and veges,” he recalls. “Once I started losing weight, I gained confidence.”
Joining his brothers at school in Auckland at 15, Daniel bought Gordon Ramsay’s cookbook and honed his culinary skills.
“It was a big, isolating culture shock moving from Samoa,” he explains. “I’ve always been an introvert and I adapted, but it was hard. I skipped school lots because, with no parents around, it was up to me to go. But I wouldn’t get up to mischief – I’d go to the gym, then watch the cooking channel!”
While studying commerce, his passion for fitness and food grew, and he went on to open the Auckland gym Propolis Fitness Collective. It was there he filmed his first cooking videos in 2014.
Then when Covid hit, he started posting regularly to inspire clients to eat healthy.
“I didn’t know how to make people laugh, so I thought, ‘What if I put Fraser in the video?’” he shares.
Having adopted Fraser, now seven, in 2018, after a break-up that saw his ex-girlfriend take their pug Marvin, he’s now an indispensable sidekick, helping drive the success of Man Can Cook NZ by boosting his owner’s confidence.
“I don’t know how I’d be without Fraser,” he reflects. “He’s helped me be comfortable in my own skin.”
In fact, Daniel’s become so self-assured that videos of him cooking shirtless are now the secret to his global social media stardom.
He first stripped off in a video accompanied by the Bloodhound Gang’s saucy song The Bad Touch because it felt appropriate. Another one using an Abba song “blew up”, confirming topless was the way to go.
Today, Daniel and Fraser’s followers include actor Neil Patrick Harris, pop star Debbie Gibson and New Kids on the Block singer Jonathan Knight.
While he was attending a convention in Miami in 2024, Neil slipped into Daniel’s DMs, inviting him out.
He recalls, “I turned up to this fancy hotel, where it was just him, his husband and his manager. We went out, watched a show and had a few drinks. He was so lovely.”
Reflecting on his star fans and his nomination for New Zealand Creator of the Year at the recent TikTok Awards, Daniel says he still struggles to fathom his success.
“When Fraser and I started creating content, we had no desire to gain a following or make a living,” he tells. “I’m just a boy from Samoa filming in my little kitchen in New Zealand with my dog.”
Despite the global attention, Daniel credits his island upbringing with keeping him grounded.
“There’s a Samoan word, ‘fa’aaloalo’, meaning to show respect and humility. That’s stuck with me, but I’m still finding that balance of not puffing yourself up but not shrinking yourself either.”
Back home in Samoa, Daniel’s dad and uncles can’t get enough of his posts. Meanwhile, he’s reconnected with his Auckland-based mum Ivy, who cares for Fraser while her son travels.
He says rebuilding their relationship has been “tough” but rewarding.
“It took work because I had this massive sense of resentment and couldn’t be myself with her. Therapy helped me understand my parents had their own struggles growing up and did the best they could.”
The instability of his youth led Daniel to develop anxiety, but therapy has proved healing, as have cooking and exercise. He also has strategies in place to stop him gorging on the delectable dishes he whips up for his social media followers.
“I’ll have one serving, then give it away,” he laughs. “And to stop me bingeing, I have cleaner meals to eat on days I’m baking, so I’m not as hungry and there’s less temptation to overindulge.”
Follow Daniel on TikTok and Instagram via @mancancooknz.