Cracker Barrel customers ‘completely shocked’ after prank on manager goes viral

(WJW/NEXSTAR) – A couple of Cracker Barrel customers in Georgia are going viral for their attempts to update the décor at a local restaurant.

On Sunday, best friends Ashley Zessin Shelley and Darcy Gashwiler visited a nearby Cracker Barrel, but they had more than chicken ‘n dumplings on their minds: They were there to hide a photo of themselves on the restaurant’s mantel.

“This all started as a joke,” Shelley told Nexstar. “We have a friend that just became a manager at our Cracker Barrel here in town. We thought it would be funny for him to find the picture and see it was us.”

In a video Gashwiler later posted to TikTok, Shelley can be seen getting up from her table and — as inconspicuously as she can — placing a framed black-and-white photo of herself and Gashwiler on the mantel of the Cracker Barrel. She then jogs back to the table with a giddy smile on her face.

The video cuts to a close-up of the photo, which depicts Shelley and Gashwiler wearing wide-brimmed hats in a farm-like setting, with Shelley holding a hoe and Gashwiler holding a chicken.

The TikTok clip has since been viewed more than 22 million times as of Thursday morning.

“We are completely shocked,” Shelley told Nexstar.

In a follow-up video, the women returned to see if the photo was still on display — and it was.

A representative for Cracker Barrel did not return Nexstar’s request for comment on the duo’s prank, but Shelley said Cracker Barrel’s team left a message on TikTok saying they were especially tickled by her “casual trot” back to the table after leaving the photo on the mantel.

Shelley and Gashwiler don’t appear to be finished, either. In subsequent videos, the two were seen placing the same photo on the wall at a Buc-ee’s, and another in what appeared to be a different Cracker Barrel.

“We are always up for shenanigans, so you can bet there is more to come!” Shelley said.