Among Us chicken nugget

The Among Us chicken nugget is a chicken nugget that was found in McDonald's' BTS Meal. It looked similar to the shape of one of the crewmates in Among Us. The nugget would be put on eBay, named "McDonald's Among Us shaped Nugget from BTS Meal". After the eBay page became popular online as an internet meme the nugget was eventually sold on eBay at the price of $99,997. Its popularity came from its strangeness and absurdity.
Background.
The Among Us chicken nugget was first found in the BTS Meal. The BTS Meal was from when McDonald's collaborated with BTS, a k-pop band. This BTS Meal had either nine or ten chicken nuggets. It was put on eBay on May 28, 2021. Its price was $0.99. The item's description said that it would be frozen and air sealed. This was to make it stay fresh. If it wasn't fresh, it would soon expire. This is because the expiration date(or how long the food would last) was only 14 days.
Two days later, the bids for the chicken nugget became $14,969. This made many other bidders come along. This would make the price rise even more. After 184 bids, the last price was reached. The final bid was $99,997.
The Among Us chicken nugget is an example of pareidolia. Pareidolia is a phenomenon where something will look like something else, even when the two things aren't similar to each other.
Internet attention.
The nugget first became popular online after it was posted on the subreddit r/CrackheadCraigslist. It was called, "Among us chicken nugget from the McDonald's BTS meal". As of December 2022, the post has more than 8,400 upvotes.
The nugget got more attention on June 1 2021. This was because the official Among Us Twitter account made a post about the auction. The official Xbox Twitter account replied to this post, saying "For that price it must come with Szechuan Sauce". This was a reference to the sauce sold by McDonald's because of the demand by Rick and Morty fans(In the show, the sauce is mentioned in the episodeThe Rickshank Rickdemption). The original finder of the chicken nugget responded to Xbox by saying "Jokes on them" and "I have Szechuan and at buyer's request will ship some with the nugget."(meaning that they already have Szechuan sauce and they will give it to the buyer if they want it) In the same Twitter post, they also added an image with a box full of McDonald's Szechuan Sauce being added to the eBay post.
Legacy.
After the chicken nugget was sold for $99,997, it got large attention online and in the media. This was because of the huge price of the chicken nugget. The Verge, The Guardian, Rolling Stone, CNET, The Star and ABC News all made articles on the chicken nugget.
Guinness World Records.
The Among Us chicken nugget was in the Guinness World Records 2023. It was put as the "most expensive chicken nugget sold at online auction".
Child sex trafficking conspiracy theory.
After the chicken nugget was sold, many TikTok accounts and QAnon people said that the Among Us chicken nugget was part of a conspiracy. The conspiracy said that money was being put into websites like eBay for child sex trafficking. The conspiracy also said that the "chicken nugget" was a code for the child sex trafficking. One person made the theory that "when people become aware of child sex trafficking, it is no longer hidden in plain sight"(meaning, when people become aware of child sex trafficking, it is very obvious).