Arsenal fan puts players through durian taste test

A video was uploaded on Arsenal's official YouTube channel, showing five of the players getting a hands-on smell and taste of durian.

Mr Tiong Jin Yan, vice president of Arsenal Singapore, the Official Arsenal Supporters Club, introduces the video.

He describes the durian as the King of Fruits and talking at length about its smell. He adds that he believes 50 per cent of Southeast Asians love it and the other 50 per cent hates it.

In the video, Jin says he hopes that the players will consent to eat the fruit, but admits that the strong-smelling durian will be hard for to swallow.

And when the players file in one by one to try the fruit, reactions range from laughing at the unusual situation to casting nervous looks at the durian.

Midfielder, Mathieu Flamini, quipped: "Is it alive?"

When the players were asked to take a whiff of the fruit, they could not express their opinions at first. Everyone looked bewildered, and took a few moments to gather their thoughts.

Goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny did not like the fruit right off the bat, adding he was in the 50 per cent who hated it.

He jumped out of his seat and ran away once his session was over, as fellow defender Mathieu Debuchy had a laugh at his expense.

Forward Serge Gnarby sampled the durian, but admitted he "couldn't eat much of it" and gave it a thumbs down.

Defender Kieran Gibbs was one of the few who were not offended by the durian. He said it had a nice smell, but admitted that "It doesn't smell like a lot of fruits we get here."

He gave it a thumbs up and hoped he could have more of the fruit when Arsenal visits Singapore in July.

They will be here as part of the Barclays Asia Trophy tournament and will be playing a Singapore Select XI team along with either Everton or Stoke City FC.

andrewg@sph.com.sg