Figtree man Clayton Hobbs can barely walk down the street without someone asking for his photo or quoting "Chicken burger!" to him.
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That's because he is the face of Clayton's World, a social media sensation that has amassed 736,000 followers on Instagram and another 633,000 on TikTok - and growing - in a little over three years.
Clayton's brother Jack started the account in April 2021 at the urging of friends, with whom he would share videos of him and Clayton, who has Down syndrome, mucking around.
"One of them was like "Oh, you should make Clayton a TikTok'," Jack said.
"I'd never had the app before so I downloaded it. I was just sitting on the lounge one afternoon after work and I just had an old video and I uploaded it to TikTok, and it got like 3.5 million views, and it was all positive comments."
They never planned to make something big of it, but Clayton - with his wide smile and love of a laugh - drew in viewers.
With a growing fan base, the brothers started adding funny skits to their repertoire, often roping in their younger brothers Matt and Harry (who also do work behind the scenes) to act.
"Everyone just likes Clayton. The natural [videos] are normally the best, where it's just him being himself," Jack said.
"His thing's chicken burgers... Everyone liked him saying that, and then we tried to do videos involving chicken burgers, and it's just become his catchphrase."
Chicken burgers are so much Clayton's thing that his merchandise now bears the slogan "Chicken Burgah", and in April the brothers were even paid to go to New Zealand to promote Auckland food truck Jo Bros' new chicken burger.
But Clayton remains true to his local, with the Chicko's in Figtree still cooking up his preferred burger.
"Chicko's is number one, yeah?" Jack said.
"Yeah, Chicko's," Clayton confirmed.
Food in general is something that Clayton loves: for his social media accounts he'll often review new eateries in the Illawarra, drinks and snacks.
This has attracted some serious attention, with meal kit company Hello Fresh reaching out to the brothers for a sponsorship deal that now sees Clayton's World publish a video each month.
Such sponsorship, along with the merchandise, does bring in some money but the brothers juggle making their videos with Clayton's involvement with disability services provider Greenacres and Jack's full-time work and rugby commitments.
Clayton's online fame has become so great that he is recognised everywhere he goes.
"We'll go to the basketball, the footy, there's all kids wanting photos with him... Not so much me, I'm just Clayton's brother," Jack said.
They didn't set out with grand plans of social media stardom and they still don't have any complicated strategy.
But Jack said they did hope to travel more around Australia, and collaborate with other creators on videos.
Already Clayton has guest-starred in a video with Sean and Marley, two best friends who also have Down syndrome and an online cooking show.
Another big dream is to take the whole family to Fiji with the proceeds of their merchandise.
But mostly, they just plan to continue doing what they do and keep Clayton's many fans happy.
Natalie Croxon
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
Reporter at the Illawarra Mercury, mostly covering social affairs. Previously of the Bendigo Advertiser, Northern Daily Leader and Quirindi Advocate. Our Watch award winner.
