He’s the little boy who made news around the world with his bizarre but impressive watermelon eating.
And now Mitch Schibeci has returned to the same ground where his antics went viral in 2016 – this time putting down a catch in the crowd at the MCG on Tuesday night.
The more grown up ‘Watermelon Boy’ was clearly frustrated to cop a Mackenzie Harvey six to the face during the Melbourne BBL derby, as he was seen slapping the chair in front as his mates checked to see if he was OK.
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It was an hour later that Fox Cricket commentator Anthony Hudson made the link between the now teenager and the child that became a national icon.
“That is, believe it now, the watermelon boy,” Hudson said.
“Mitch Schibeci, six years ago his claim to fame. His father Tony is one of the ground announcers here.
“Mitch looks a little different six years on from sculling the watermelon.”
Fellow Cox Cricket commentator Brett Lee was left stunned by the reveal, stating “no way” as Hudson explained the remarkable crowd find.
RAGING ROGERS – 5 WICKET HAUL | 01:17
Mitch made headlines around the world as vision of him eating a whole watermelon bigger than his head shot him to internet stardom.
He’d been attending a women’s big bash cricket match when his bizarre watermelon eating technique was captured on camera at the MCG.
The hashtag #watermelonboy quickly trended on social media as media interviews came in thick and fast for the then-10-year-old.
He told the BBC he’d been eating watermelon’s – rind and all – “for a long time” as he simply “liked the taste of it”.
“It was a lot more hard work than I thought it would be … I just kept on eating and eating it,” he said back in 2016.
Mitch even ended up on the Today show, telling journalists he just wanted to end up on the big screen.
