Toronto Raptor Serge Ibaka makes more than $20 million a year playing basketball, but he’s also got a popular, influencer-ish side hustle.
For his “How Hungry Are You” YouTube videos, Ibaka, aka “Mafuzzy Chef,” casually interviews teammates and other NBA stars, cooking outlandish food-as-a-dare meals that he insists they eat. He once got Kyle Lowry to eat beef testicle and Kawhi Leonard to try beef penis (although it’s not always about that).
Loblaw smartly figured out a way to capture a little of the Mafuzzy Chef magic by creating its own “How Hungry Are You” and connecting it to the current “Food Lovers Unite” brand campaign. In the 10+ minute video, Ibaka tries a number of Canadian dishes—some daring, others not—while chatting with TSN host Kate Beirness. The video was posted to YouTube Tuesday.
“My friends at Loblaws turned the tables on me and invited me to a Food Lovers Unite edition of ‘How hungry are you?’,” says Ibaka in the explanation accompanying the video. “I’m Mafuzzy Chef, I’m used to being the host, so this was a challenge for me… But, being a food lover myself, I had a great time trying specialties from six different regions of Canada.”