MELBOURNE:  A 10-year-old Australian boy has shot to fame after being caught eating the best part of a whole watermelon, including its skin, at a cricket match in Melbourne, earning himself the name “Watermelon boy.” Also, his stunt was rated as the ‘First Viral Hit of 2016’.

Mitchell Schibeci was captured on live television enthusiastically munching on the fruit as he watched the Melbourne Stars-Melbourne Renegades clash at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday. Commentators at the MCG were shocked to see him chomping into the fruit, skin and all.

Watch the Video Here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2z8u-8C1C4

It seems Watermelon Boy doesn’t just love his juicy fruit; he loves its rind as well, as you can see by the enthusiasm with which he can be seen chomping through the usually hard-to-digest skin in the video above.

Mitchell quickly became an internet sensation as the hashtag #watermelonboy began trending on Twitter in Australia.

“Cricket has a new hero. Splendid work on demolishing an entire watermelon young man. Well played,” one user said.

“#Watermelonboy you are an absolute inspiration mate,” another tweet said.

The People magazine said, a kid eating an entire watermelon at a cricket game is the ‘First Internet Hero of 2016’.

Mitchell, now dubbed as the “watermelon boy” was also invited onto Australian news programmes to share his story. He told the BBC that he devised the stunt to get his face on the game’s big screen.  “I’ve seen people do weird stuff and they got on the big screen so I thought I might do it myself.”

He said that eating the whole watermelon was tougher than expected. “It was a lot more hard work than I thought it would be. I just kept on eating and eating it,” he said. Mitchell said he had been eating watermelon rind since the age of two. “I’ve been doing it for a long time – I just like the taste of it,” he said.

Michael’s father, Tony Schibeci, later shared a photo on social media of his son going to bed with a half-eaten watermelon.

The clip of Mitchell tucking into the watermelon was picked up as ESPN’s Play of the Day, but he has not let the attention go to his head.

“I’m not really a hero, I’m just a normal average kid,” Mitchell said.