LANGKAWI: From just 10 viewers to over 20,000 with 5.7 million likes, the Langkawi TikToker behind a viral 'snail race' live feed has been taken aback by his sudden fame.
Muhammad Aswat Azdha Idris, 29, the owner of TikTok account @tansri_ash, said he did not expect his content to attract so much attention from social media users.
"Before this, I only had 10 viewers for my live broadcast in TikTok.
"Now, thanks to the snail race, my account is trending on social media and my follower count has increased massively.
"Two days ago during a live stream ala the Malaysia Games (Sukma) 2024, I had 5,700 viewers.
"That number jumped to 12,000 viewers yesterday," said the tour guide from Kampung Lubuk Chempadak in Pulau Tuba here.
To date, his account has 40,000 followers while his live streams have received 5.7 million likes.
The snail race has taken TikTok by storm, with viewers captivated by the 'slow and hardly furious' battle.
Using a pot cover as the race track, the broadcasts have tickled numerous viewers.
The race had snails representing different states such as Pahang, Kedah, Johor, and Penang.
Each snail also had their own names such as Hafiz, Rogayah, Safuan, and Dafi.
Aswat said he did not expect the race, which features snails from mangrove swamp, to generate nearly RM2,000 in gifts from his viewers.
"I also received plenty of encouragement and motivation from viewers urging me to continue producing the content as they found it funny and entertaining," he said.
Despite the popularity, Aswat insisted that he would not tolerate betting from the public.
"I wish to stress that I will not accept any betting, although there is high demand from the viewers.
"Yes, many viewers have DM-ed (direct message) me, saying they wanted to place bets.
"However, I refused because that is gambling.
"I'm just doing this for fun."