A pair of England fans in Qatar were “on the hunter for beers” when they ended up being invited back to the palace of a “Sheikh’s son” and got to see his collection of exotic animals.
John, Alex Sullivan’s friend, and John Sullivan recalled the surprising turn of events that led them to meet lions as well as monkeys and exotic birds while they were there to support the Three Lions in the World Cup.
“We’ve just been having a good time, having a mooch and trying to get our bearings. The set-up’s spot on, we’ve been enjoying ourselves,” Alex told talkSPORT.
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John then mentioned their impromptu adventure, as he explained: ”Last night we met one of the Sheikh’s sons and he took us back to the palace. He demonstrated to us that he owned lions and everything. They’ve [Qatar locals] made us so welcome.
“Basically we were on a bit of a hunt for some beers and he was like ‘yeah, we sort beers, we sort beers’, so we jumped into the back of his Toyota Landcruiser, ended up at a big palace. He showed us his monkeys and exotic birds. He added that it was “crazy”.
The clip has since gone viral with 1.8m views, and people couldn’t get over what the two fans got up to.
One person wrote: “Either this really happened, or these lads found a lot of beer.”
“Who’s buying the film rights to this?” another person asked.
Someone else said: “He is Jay off the Inbetweeners,” not quite believing the memorable tale.
“That’s some heavy shrooms they are on,” A fourth person added their opinion.
However, viewers were just as shocked to learn that both Alex and John had in fact visited a palace belonging to a Sheikh’s son and had the videos to prove it.
Alex posted the receipts via Twitter (@digitlprofiting) in response to the viral video, with two clips of himself inside the palace walls and the Three Lions supporter got to pet a lion cub that appeared to be on a leash.
TalkSPORT reshared the clip to inform viewers “It genuinely happened.”
“The fact this genuinely happened makes me so happy, like something from the hangover,” one person said.
Someone else wrote: “He actually went to the Sheikhs palace.”
“That has to be the best comeback to any tweet of all time,” another person added.
While others criticised the fact the wild animal was being kept as a pet – as one commenter wrote: “What is it with humans need to own animals are in no way bred or designed to live in captivity.
“Like did he not think for a second where the cub’s mother is or how they will keep it once it’s fully grown??”
“Wild animals are not pets,” someone else also wrote.
Another video from what appears to be Alex’s Snapchat has also circulated on Twitter which shows how he “rocked up” to the huge property.
“We’re on a beer mission, trying to get beers back at the gaff and I’ve only managed to get us back to a f***in… a naughty one with Nawaf and Abdul-Aziz,” he said while walking up the driveway, Daily Mail reported.
Elsewhere, it looks like Alex and John are not alone in their quest for beer as Ecuador fans could be heard chanting “Queremos cerveza”, which translates to “We want beer” their match against the host nation on Sunday (November 20).
This comes after Qatar banned the sale of alcohol inside stadiums hosting World Cup matches just two days before the tournament kicked off.
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