- Bizarre question has captured the world’s imagination
- Now some of the NRL’s top players have delivered their take
An incredible number of people around the world have tried to figure out whether a gorilla could come out on top if it had to fight 100 men after the question went viral over the last week – and now some of the NRL’s most high-profile stars have chipped in.
More than 288million people have joined the online debate after a user called DreamChasnMike on the social media forum X suggested that it would take 100 ‘dedicated’ humans to overpower one gorilla.
World heavyweight boxing champion Oleksander Usyk said he could do it single-handed, and Elon Musk volunteered to be one of the 100 men when YouTube star Mr Beast asked for volunteers.
The South Sydney Rabbitohs asked some of their biggest stars for their take and got a range of answers on Instagram, some serious and some very far from it.
What follows is a summary of the players’ reactions to the question…
Tallis Duncan: ‘One hundred men.’
Silverback gorillas (pictured) weigh around 195kg and can lift 800kg of dead weight
That level of size and strength doesn’t bother South Sydney star Latrell Mitchell (pictured top) who said 10 clones of him could take down one of the incredibly powerful apes
Jacob Host: ‘The gorilla has to win 100 times, we’ve only got to win once.’
Cody Walker: ‘One hundred men.’
Keaon Koloamatangi (reacting to Walker’s answer): ‘No, come on, man.’
Euan Aitken: ‘One hundred men, for sure.’
Jayden Sullivan: ‘One hundred men would beat the gorilla. I’m telling you right now. I will be the sacrificial lamb and I will go 100 miles an hour. Probably about 65 people die, but men come out on top.’
Tyrone Munro: ‘The thing is with the men, you have to think about what type of mindset they have. Just think about that.’
The team’s biggest star, Latrell Mitchell, took a very different tack by referring to himself with his answer: ‘Only 10 TrellMit.’
Mitchell’s teammate Keaon Koloamatangi (pictured) is firmly on the gorilla’s side
Adelaide Crows star Reilly O’Brien (pictured) said he could beat a gorilla all by himself
The AFL’s Adelaide Crows also put the question to their stars on Instagram.
Luke Nankervis said the ape would ‘just claw them up with its teeth and its claws’, Reilly O’Brien confidently predicted he could ‘take the gorilla by myself’ and Isaac Cumming checked whether any weapons would be allowed – they’re not – before predicting ‘the gorilla gets it done’.
Former UFC world champion Conor McGregor said he would step in on behalf of the world’s gorillas and ‘smoke a 100, easy’.
Someone who actually knows what they’re talking about, wildlife expert and conservationist Ron Magill, is on the side of humanity.
‘There are going to be some terrible injuries and quite a few casualties, but at the end of the day, the gorilla is going to lose to 100 men. That is just the bottom line,’ he told Channel Nine.
‘There’s going to have to be a couple of kamikaze guys in there who are going to probably die, but 100 men coming at a gorilla, if they’re united and they stay committed to the cause…
‘A gorilla is incredibly powerful, but you go in there and act like a big human straitjacket to keep its arms together, the men are going to win.’
According to information from the Congo’s Virunga National Park, which is known for its gorilla population, silverbacks typically weigh around 195kg, stand around 150cm tall and can lift about 800kg of dead weight.
