Hunk of a durian peeler

PETALING JAYA - When Jordan Yeoh offered to help out at his friend's durian stall, little did he know of the storm he was going to cause on Malaysian internet.

The 28-year-old from Petaling Jaya now stands as an internet icon alongside attractive Taiwanese Tau Fu Fa seller Yi Tin Chen, good-looking Brazilian subway security guard Guilherme Leao and handsome Japanese reporter Daijiro Enami.

On Sunday, the personal trainer posted 10 images of himself helping his friend's parents sell durian at SS2 here. The Facebook post went viral with more than 18,000 shares in four days.

No doubt netizens were keen on spreading news of his helpful nature.

The whole story began when Yeoh, a self-proclaimed durian fan, started a new diet.

"I'm dieting down because I wanted to lose some weight to get more defined. When I'm dieting, I restrict fruits but I love durian and didn't eat durian for a long time. So I was craving for it," he told The Star Online.

For his weekend "cheat meal", Yeoh headed out to his friend's durian stall.

"So it came to my mind, why not do something a little bit different? Instead of just eating, I decided to ask if I could help out a bit," said Yeoh, who emphasised that he is not a durian seller or has expertise in handling the fruit.

"I didn't want to make them (his friend's parents) busier. What I did were easy things. I peel the durians, carried, threw them away and served customers," he said.

He explained that one of the inspirations for his stunt was the viral Tau Fu Fa seller.

Shortly after posting the images, Yeoh's received a flurry of messages which overwhelmed his inbox.

"(The messages came) from women, guys, people who are in the fitness line and who want to build good physiques," he said.

He even received messages from "uncles" and senior citizens who were interested to get into fitness and were looking for tips.

It was also a good opportunity for Yeoh to get in touch with friends he had not spoken to for years as many had contacted him when they saw the images.

"I had mixed emotions. I'm happy and excited of course but at the same time I'm worried because I don't know how to handle this situation," he said.

In dispensing fitness advice, Yeoh encouraged those who are interested in fitness to "just do it."

"Many people think too much of what is the best exercise, what is the best diet, what is the best so-called secret exercise to lose weight. But none of them will work if you don't take the first step which is to commit," he said.

"So just do it. Ten push-ups a day is good because maybe 10 push-ups will lead to 20 push-ups, 30, 50 and so on," he said.

It is anticipated that hearts will break once news gets out that Yeoh has a loving fiancee.