Oil Up — Ainsley Harriott smiling and pouring olive oil into a frying pan

Oil Up

2010catchphrasesemi-active

Published October 19, 2026

Oil Up / Oiled Up began as a 4chan running gag about celebrity chef Ainsley Harriott in 2010, centered on a photo of him pouring dressing over a salad. The catchphrase sat online for over a decade before a December 2023 Dana White TikTok clip sent "oil up" into mass TikTok circulation. By March 2024, Duolingo's mascot had posted an "oiled up" video that reached 18 million views.

catchphrase memes delayed virality memes 4chan memes thirst memes celebrity reaction memes

Overview

On 4chan, posters typically combined the Harriott salad photo with the caption "It's Time to OIL UP" and used it as a non-sequitur reply inside /tg/ threads1. Redraws of the chef, image macros stacked on the Good Heavens Look at The Time template, and other edits of his grin circulated through the early 2010s2.

In its 2023 revival, "oil up" and "[name] oiled up" turned into spam comments directed at characters or people a viewer finds attractive, especially on TikTok5. Creators also film themselves dousing their skin or a costume in cooking oil for the bit, as the official Duolingo account did with its owl mascot9.

Origin & Background

Platform
4chan /tg/ (origin), TikTok (viral spread)
Date
2010

On March 10, 2010, an anonymous user on 4chan's /tg/ (Traditional Games) board posted "It's Time to OIL UP" alongside the Ainsley Harriott salad photo, the earliest documented use of the gag1. Ainsley Harriott is the subject of the meme, not its creator; the identity of whoever first captioned the photo is not confirmed.

The caption spread through other /tg/ threads that year, and on June 25, 2011, Know Your Meme user OCtaPuS archived an image macro version, the earliest surviving copy outside 4chan5.

How It Spread

Harriott oil memes stayed inside 4chan and image-board culture through the mid-2010s. On January 4, 2014, Imgur user saturnjosh posted a compilation of Harriott oil-up edits that reached over 100,000 views across the next decade2.

The second life started on December 7, 2023, when TikToker @fightcasuals uploaded a clip of UFC president Dana White reading the comment "I want to oil you up" during a livestream and asking what it meant, hitting more than 800,000 views3. A YouTube reupload carried the same clip to viewers off TikTok4.

TikTok picked up the catchphrase quickly. On January 10, 2024, @mmacomedyy posted a follow-up clip of White responding to another "oil up" comment, drawing over 1.1 million views6. @thebestclips333 posted an edit of the original Dana White clip on January 23 that reached 2.3 million views7, and YouTuber Meme Zee published an "oil up" sketch on January 31 that passed 45,000 views8. The @duolingo account posted its mascot-oil video on March 4, 2024, hitting 18 million views9, and on July 5, @s0ph1er0ss uploaded a video prompting users to send it to people they wanted to see "oil up," reaching 1.3 million views10.

Timeline

2010-03-10

An anonymous 4chan /tg/ user posts "It's Time to OIL UP" with the Ainsley Harriott salad photo, the earliest known use of the gag.

2011-06-25

Know Your Meme user OCtaPuS archives an Ainsley Harriott "oil up" image macro.

2014-01-04

Imgur user saturnjosh posts a collection of Harriott oil-up memes that reaches over 100,000 views.

2023-12-07

TikToker @fightcasuals uploads the Dana White livestream clip reacting to an "I want to oil you up" comment.

How to Use This Meme

To use the format, posters typically drop "oil up" or "[name] oiled up" in a comment or reply under a photo or clip of someone they find attractive, often as spam. Video versions commonly feature the poster pouring cooking oil or baby oil on themselves or a costumed character, mirroring the Duolingo clip9.

Frequently Asked Questions