'Not touching durians this year': Competitive eater Zermatt Neo downs 13 durians in hour-long Mao Shan Wang buffet

"Can you open 10 durians for me?" local competitive eater Zermatt Neo said with intent.

Call it arrogance or plain ambition, but the 35-year-old YouTuber has proven he has the stomach for such a feat with the nickname 'Big Stomach King'.

Zermatt was recently in Kovan taking on Lexus Durian King's hour-long all-you-can-eat buffet.

He flexed his durian eating prowess in a video posted yesterday (Jan 19) on his social media channels.

Instantly recognised by the establishment's boss, Zermatt was clearly laying down a marker — just like Donnie Yen in Ip Man when he took on 10 enemies at a go — that left even the boss looking a little taken aback. 

But never one to shy away from a challenge, the Food League Singapore representative slipped on his trusty gloves and got down to the deed.

[embed]https://www.tiktok.com/@zermattneo/video/7190310469096213761[/embed]

Chomping down on his first Mao Shan Wang, Zermatt shared his two cents on the fruit.

He was impressed by the large hunks of durian flesh on each seed, describing it as "very meaty, very fleshy".

The actual seeds were so small and flat that Zermatt noted that it's "95 per cent all meat".

When it came to taste though, the durians were clearly of the bitter Mao Shan Wang variety with Zermatt noting its "bitter aftertaste". 

Holding a steady eating pace, he still managed to take time to accommodate photo requests from passing fans. 

On his eighth durian, a fan asked after Zermatt and he responded that "after eight fruits, it's not going to be enjoyable" before breaking into laughter. 

Finishing up at the hour mark, Zermatt managed "a little over 13 fruits" according to the captions.

Though he wasn't "100 per cent full", he stopped because "the taste is really getting to him". 

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Previously, local media company UncoverSixtyFive sent a representative down to try eating 10 durians in the Mao Shan Wang buffet, but he gave up after eating two durians during the hour.

So 13 durians later, what did Zermatt have to say?

Well, it appears that you can have too much of a good thing — the competitive eater said he's sworn off the king of fruits for the year.

"This year I'm not going to touch durians", said Zermatt.

The trauma is real as he even went so far to promise to return any gift of durians. 

But the real shocker is hearing the man confessing that he is "not a super huge fan of durians".

Zermatt is well known in the local competitive eating scene, having won Singapore's first Food League competition back in 2017. He ate 92 chicken wings in 8 minutes to clinch the gold.

Besides that, he also joined famed international foodie Mark Wiens last July when they ordered 51 nasi padang dishes at Hjh Maimunah Restaurant in Joo Chiat.

Of all the dishes they tried at the Michelin Bib Gourmand eatery, Zermatt highlighted the sotong hitam as "one of his favourite".

ALSO READ: Man tries to eat 10 durians in hour-long Mao Shan Wang buffet, here's why you shouldn't

timothywee@asiaone.com

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