Domino's Attempts Controversial Watermelon Pizza and Customers Aren't Happy

Domino's might already be playing with fire by simply selling the controversial fruit pizza combo with pineapple on top, but the company has taken it to the next level now with its take on watermelon pizza.

"Y'all keep asking us for a low carb option," Domino's Australia captioned the TikTok video of the recipe attempt last week.

The original watermelon BBQ pizza went viral in June when TikTok chef Oliver Paterson shared the recipe to his account.

"Ok, let's give this a go then," said Domino's text-to-speech generator in the video, after showing a clip from Paterson's video.

A Domino's worker can be seen slicing the center of a watermelon before layering it with sauce, cheese and pepperoni.

"It does look pretty good out of the oven," they said hopefully, but it didn't last long. "We think it might be an acquired taste," they added as a man tasted the creation.

A spokesperson for Domino's Australia told Newsweek: "At Domino's, pizza is our passion and we are constantly experimenting with different toppings and bases in our development kitchen to see exactly what is pizzable! In this case, our social media team was inspired by a video on TikTok by @elburritomonster who used watermelon as a pizza base—an unusual idea that we just had to try for ourselves.

"Unfortunately, not all experiments lead to 'masterpizzas.' The watermelon pizza—while unique—tasted exactly how you would imagine... Like a slice of sweet, juicy watermelon with a thin layer of pepperoni pizza on top. Both taste great separately... but let's just say we won't be combining the two on our menu anytime soon. If you ask us, the only fruit that belongs on pizza is pineapple. Oh no we didn't!"

The video can also be seen here.

Domino's credited Paterson in the caption, writing: "When we saw @elburritomonster make a watermelon pizza, we had to give it a go." But, Paterson told Newsweek that he's not surprised they didn't enjoy it, as they didn't actually follow the exact recipe.

"I've seen several people attempt to recreate it but get the key details wrong to make it work—the watermelon needs to be cooked before the toppings go on to remove as much moisture as possible to avoid a soggy mess," he said. "The key is in the name: Water - Melon. Need to get a load of water out!"

"Also, it's very vital to use BBQ sauce rather than marinara/tomato. BBQ is already a tried and tested flavor combination with watermelon—tomato (I haven't tried myself but would assume) simply does not work," he added.

"With these two errors it's unsurprising they did not enjoy their recreation. I have made my version for several people and they all enjoyed it—it tastes sweet and smoky, with fatty salty richness from the cheese and chorizo, simply lovely! I would urge anyone to try and recreate, but to follow the two important steps: cook the watermelon before adding the toppings, and use BBQ sauce not tomato."

As Paterson explained to Newsweek in June, the BBQ and melon combination was a proven success even prior to the pizza take. He had previously tried a BBQ-roasted watermelon, after seeing it on TV show Crazy Delicious, in which Heston Blumenthal even applauded it.

Pre-cooking is also important in order to develop a Maillard reaction on the outside, which caramelizes the flesh.

Even done right, like Paterson's video, the recipe ignites extreme reactions, and Domino's attempt was no different.

"You better not start selling this," wrote one TikTok user.

"Domino's...I can't keep defending you," added another.