Two eople in TeamSport karting overalls stand on a winners' podium at a go-karting venue in Stoke-on-Trent, alongside a life-size cut-out figure of Erling Haaland. Two hold winner's trophies in front of a TeamSport Karting backdrop.Supplied
Shane Hassall (left) challenged Wade Taylor (right) to give him a day off if a social media post attracted 100,000 likes and a comment from Erling Haaland
22 minutes ago
A pair of Staffordshire landscapers found themselves at the centre of an online sensation after they challenged Manchester City striker, Erling Haaland, to comment on one of their videos.
Wade Taylor and Shane Hassall, who run and work for Maple Landscapes in Penkhull, have seen their Instagram video viewed more than 16 million times after posting it on Instagram last week.
The clip began with Hassall calling Taylor to ask for a day off to go go-karting if the post could reach 100,000 likes and attract a comment from Haaland.
The video quickly gathered momentum online, but the pair said they never expected the Norway striker to actually respond.
"We're just humble landscapers and we just decided to have a laugh," Taylor told BBC Radio Stoke.
The video was posted on Tuesday and, after attracting hundreds of thousands of likes, got the attention of Haaland two days later.
Taylor said he had a feeling the challenge would somehow work.
"To be honest with you, I don't know. I had no doubt that it was going to happen," he told BBC Radio Stoke.
"Once he'd made that commitment and we'd posted it, I just had this weird feeling that it was going to happen. We got 100,000 likes within the first four hours, which was crazy.
"People were commenting saying, 'We need this'. The community was building pretty quickly and the phone was buzzing."
The pair then waited for a response from Haaland, who commented on Thursday evening.
His first message simply said: "Enjoy", with a second following shortly afterwards: "Your evening just became a bit better."
Hassal said: "Because we're always pranking each other, I thought he was winding me up," he laughed.
The viral success led to TeamSport in Burslem offering the team a free go-karting session, allowing them to complete the challenge.
Despite the millions of views, Taylor said little had changed about their day-to-day lives.
He said: "We've arrived here today in a van. It's no joke that we're just working day in and day out. After this interview we're going to go and install a fence."
A screenshot of Erling's comments on the Instagram videoSupplied
Manchester City striker Erling Haaland replied twice to the viral challenge posted by Maple Landscapes
The company works across Staffordshire and Cheshire, and last year made a conscious decision to focus more heavily on social media as a marketing tool.
Since then, a series of prank-style videos have helped build a growing audience online.
Now, after their unexpected viral success, Taylor and Hassall are already plotting their next challenge.
The pair told the BBC they hope to raise money for BBC Children in Need by securing 500,000 likes on a future video and a comment from England captain, Harry Kane.
If they succeed, they have pledged to walk from Stoke-on-Trent to Salford Quays.
"We want to give something back," they said.
"What an opportunity to be on here and if we can do something for someone else, I think that'll be amazing."
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