Bizarre KFC VR Escape Room/Training Exercise Haunted By Ghost Of Anti-Robot Col. Sanders

What do you get when you combine virtual reality, escape rooms, corporate training videos, and a very cranky fast food mascot? In the case of KFC’s bizarre new VR training video, probably the weirdest eight minutes of your day.

As seen in a demo of a game designed for the Oculus Rift, KFC trainees will find themselves locked in a room that seems to be some sort of shrine to the company filled with chicken decor and inhabited by what I can only guess is the ghost of Colonel Sanders, who does not ever stop talking.

The only way to escape the room and the colonel’s incessant, cranky narration is to correctly fry a batch of chicken, following the ghost’s instructions to inspect, rinse, bread, rack, and fry.

Things take an especially bizarre turn when it comes time to learn how to bread the chicken: Col. Sanders’ ghost begrudgingly accepts the help of a pair of robotic arms to demonstrate the proper technique, while taking a vehemently anti-robot — pronounced “ro-butt” — stance.

“But robots could never make the chicken,” he grumbles. “Robots are just stupid pieces of dumb metal without souls or mouths. I demand a human touch in my kitchen.”

In the end, the only way to escape and “enter the light,” as the colonel so eerily puts it, is to use your disembodied hands to feed a perfectly fried drumstick to the mouth of a Col. Sanders head on the door.

“You are ready to cook my original recipe chicken like a professional, well done,” he says. “Now you may leave this delicious prison and ascend, ASCEND! ASCEND, MY FRIEND! GO NOW! GO!”

It’s probably time you watch for yourself:

Is this real life, or is this just fantasy?

You’re probably wondering if this is a real training program and yes, yes it is. The program hasn’t started yet, but when it does, actual employees will be taken through a 10-minute game, which speeds up the usual 25-minute process of preparing and frying chicken.

“KFC will use the VR simulation to supplement its robust, multi-step employee training program, called Chicken Mastery Certification, which provides detailed eLearning and hands-on training for cooks in each of KFC’s kitchens,” the company says in a press release. “KFC will provide yet another platform for training by bringing the VR simulation technology to its regional general manager training classes, quarterly franchise meetings, and employee onboarding.”

Could wacky VR training videos be the new wacky airline in-flight safety videos? Only time will tell.

[h/t PCGamer, Eater]

by Mary Beth Quirk via Consumerist