"Very Fleshy" — Competitive Eater Consumes 13 Durians During 1-Hour Musang King Buffet
According to the eater, he wasn't completely full by the end of the buffet.
By Wayne Garreth — 01 Feb 2023, 11:04 AM
Singaporean competitive eater Zermatt Neo is no stranger to tackling the challenge of downing kilograms of food within a short period of time
After deciding to become a professional eater in 2013, Neo's 10-year career since then has seen him win 11 competitions up to present day. One of his most notable accomplishments include winning the 2017 Food League Singapore Competitive Eating Championship, where he finished 92 pieces of chicken wings in eight minutes.
Over time, Neo built an online presence that has been mounting over the past number of years, posting videos to his YouTube channel. Most of his content contain snippets of eating challenges and competitions he has taken part in.
However, one of Neo's most recent uploads has garnered massive attention online, after the content creator challenged himself to eat as many durians as he could in a limited period of time. Let's just say — he devoured the challenge.
Pulling up to the Lexus Durian King fruit store at Upper Serangoon Road in Singapore, Neo stated that he was tagged by his fans to take on the challenge of partaking in the durian buffet
"I have to disclaim first; I am not a super huge fan of durian. I'm not afraid of durian, but that's why I have been avoiding this," he said in the opening of his YouTube video.
Describing the buffet served at the store, Neo stated that they were serving the Musang King variation of durian, a favourite for durian lovers.
According to a menu board placed outside the store, patrons would be allowed to consume as many durians as they can in an hour for just SGD38 (approximately RM122). In speaking to the shopkeeper of the establishment, Neo explained to his audience that the goal is to eat at least two whole durians to breakeven.
Taking the challenge to eat as many as he can, Neo immediately asks the seller to cut open 10 durians for him at once.
Grabbing a seat and starting his feast, Neo slowly but surely wipes each piece of durian flesh clean off its shell
Laid out in a neat arrangement, Neo puts on some plastic gloves and starts to eat each durian piece. "They're extremely easy to eat," Neo said as he began eating.
"So far, so good. It's very meaty and very fleshy, but it has a bitter aftertaste." Gorging each piece, Neo was careful to show viewers his shell after eating each piece, making sure to consume all the meat that there was.
Giving taste notes along the way, Neo describes how each piece of durian is like. "The skin is extremely waxy, and the inside is super fleshy — it's like custard," he described.
Making jokes along the way, Neo made lighthearted comments while downing the durians. "My burps now could kill somebody," he said.
At about the halfway point, Neo stated that capacity wise, he was facing no issue when it came to consuming more durian.
Multiple fans also come up to Neo to grab a picture with him, and ask him about the challenge throughout the video.
After he finished eating the 10 durians, Neo decided to extend his challenge and have two more whole durians
Devouring one durian after another, the shopkeepers move the empty shells of the durians Neo consumed onto his table to make space for other visiting customers.
Just after finishing his 10th durian, Neo takes the 11th shell and places it in front of him, saying that he will now try to consume the additional two durians that were beside him during the video.
"This one is more robust, I don't know why! I'm starting to like, enjoy it again," he said as he ate his 11th durian.
Upon finishing his 12th durian, Neo asked the shopkeeper to cut open his 13th fruit, deciding to effectively stop after finishing it.
Completing the challenge, Neo was forthright in stating that despite consuming 13 durians, he was not entirely full.
"I'm not 100% full, honestly. It's just that the taste is really getting to me. And it's about an hour already, so it's time to stop," he said.
Thanking the shopkeepers for assisting him throughout the video, Neo wishes his viewers a very happy Chinese New Year, encouraging his audience to try out durian for the festive season.
