#Watermelonboy sends Twitter Facebook into meltdown

THE boy who became an internet sensation by eating through a whole watermelon – skin and all — highly recommends his favourite fruit, which he says is “100 per cent edible”.

"Watermelon Boy" Mitchell Schibeci outside the MCG with his watermelon from the previous night's Big Bash match on Sunday, January 3, 2016, in Jolimont, Victoria, Australia. Picture: Hamish Blair

THE boy who became an internet sensation by eating through a whole watermelon — skin and all — says his favourite fruit is “100 per cent edible”.

Mitchell Schibeci, or Watermelon Boy, shot to stardom after being filmed chomping through the a watermelon during Saturday night’s MCG Big Bash derby.

At one point, the Twitter hashtag #watermelonboy was trending number one in Australia and number five in the world.

Such was the demand for Watermelon Boy, an all-in press conference was called this morning with Mitchell and his father, SEN reporter and host Tony Schibeci.

People the world over were transfixed by Mitchell’s technique of chomping right through the rind.

Mitchell, 10, said it was something he highly recommended.

Mitchell Schibeci, aka Watermelon Boy, highly recommends whole watermelons. Picture: Hamish Blair

BIG BASH CROWD CRUSH IN AND OUT OF MCG

“It’s really good. It’s 100 per cent edible,” he said.

“I usually just eat it in slices but I had seen people eat the whole thing before, so I thought I would try it.

“I’m not really famous, just your normal average kid.”

His dad, Tony, said it was Mitchell’s idea to bring the watermelon into the match.

“Social media picked it up so quickly, and someone’s started off with the hashtag #watermelonboy and it literally went viral,” he said.

“When he went on the big screen and the crowd got pretty loud about it, and then when Channel 10 put him on, we knew it was going to get very big.”

He said his son was handling his newfound fame well.

“He’s pretty good actually, he’s really level headed about it and he knows it’s not something that’s going to propel him into stardom or anything, he’s just taking it as his 15 minutes of fame,” he said.

“He’s always eaten watermelon, including the skin, since he was little kid.

“We would rather be seeing this than a kid eating 15 cheeseburgers in two minutes on a YouTube video.”

[e-mail]

@Gallo_Ways

Here is my final effort tonight. I hope to do better next time pic.twitter.com/KRAkGWFCKa

— Mitch (@Watermelonboyau) January 2, 2016

It's been a big night for @watermelonboyau #watermelonboy. Time for sleep @tensporttv @BBL pic.twitter.com/mRg4xZoLN8

— Tony Schibeci (@theschibecsta) January 2, 2016