Singapore poly grad receiving 'bouquet' of roast duck and bitter gourd at graduation goes viral

Move over, flowers. One Singapore Polytechnic graduate got a roasted duck and bitter gourd instead.

A TikTok video of a woman receiving the unusual gift in lieu of a graduation bouquet has gone viral.

Tricia, who wished to be known only by her first name, posted the video of herself holding a whole roasted duck and bitter gourd at her graduation on May 7.

Captioned "best graduation bouquet", the 17-second video shows the Business Administration graduate laughing in disbelief with the items in her hands while her peers held flower bouquets.

The video has garnered over 477,000 views as of Thursday (May 15).

Speaking to AsiaOne, the 22-year-old said it was her "first time receiving such an interesting gift".

Tricia said she was expecting to get the bitter gourd since they had asked her what her least favourite vegetable was. After all, vegetable and fruit bouquets have become somewhat of a trend among young adults here.

"I was expecting the bitter gourd as they did ask me what my least favourite vegetable was, but I was shocked when I received the roasted duck. It was really unexpected," said Tricia.

Three of her friends — Jabez, Wayne, and Boyd — had wrapped the duck with brown paper to make it look like a bouquet.

Tricia, who admitted that she enjoys eating roast duck, felt her friends had planned the special surprise "to embarrass" her.   

"Of course, I want to also give them an interesting bouquet [for their graduation] but it's hard to top a whole roasted duck," she said.

When asked if she would have preferred a flower bouquet, Tricia replied: "Who doesn't love flowers?"

"But I don't have a green thumb so this roasted duck bouquet definitely is my favourite out of all the flowers I have received," she said, adding that it was practical too. 

She told AsiaOne that she "devoured the duck right after" the ceremony and said it was "really yummy".

The bitter gourd, on the other hand, is still with Tricia's friends as she forgot to bring it home.

Mixed online reactions

Tricia's video has attracted over 200 comments from netizens.

Many were impressed by the roasted duck bouquet, with a user remarking that it was "better than flowers".

"Girl, I would be so jealous you got a whole roast duck, do you know how expensive a whole duck is now?" wrote another commenter.

However, several detractors said Tricia appeared to be attention-seeking. 

"At the end of the day, as long as I didn't do anything to hurt people, the hate comments don't affect me much," said Tricia.

jengjee.hoon@asiaone.com

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