Mum of England fan who 'petted a lion and partied with sheikh' says son wasn't telling entire truth
An England fan has gone viral after claiming he spent the night partying with Qatari sheikhs and their pet lions - and apparently, he was actually telling the truth - though he did get a few things wrong when he first told the story.
Well, at least that's what football fan Alex's mum says.
Just hours after travelling to the Gulf State with his dad for the World Cup, Alex Sullivan says he was invited back to a Sheik's palace, but no one seems to believe him. Can't imagine why...
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Raving about his royal visit to TalkSport, Alex's dad claimed: "Last night we met one of the Sheik's sons and he took us back to the palace and he showed us he had lions and everything. They made us so welcome... it doesn't get any better than this."
Alex then added: "Basically, we were on a hunt for some beers... so we jumped into the back of his Toyota Land Cruiser and ended up in a big palace. We went in the back and he showed us his monkeys, his exotic birds, it was nuts."
As you can imagine, most people didn't really buy the story.
"Can’t tell if they’re taking the p*ss or not," wrote one viewer who spotted the video online.
"Sounds like the storyline for the next Hangover movie," joked another.
Thankfully, Alex, 23, can now rely on his mum Sheena, 55, to vouch for him.
The mum from Merseyside told MailOnline that her son even sent her pictures and videos from the luxurious mansion.
She clarified, though, that there were some details that Alex fudged when he first told the story.
Rather than the 'sheikh's son', it was a 'couple of the sheikh's cousins', and he was invited over for tea and coffee at the palace rather than beer.
"Just two days into the trip, they are already up to hi-jinks," said the mum.
"I’ve not been able to speak to them directly because of very poor mobile reception, but they have been WhatsApping videos and pictures.
"They say the atmosphere is amazing and the Qataris are fantastic.
"They did tell me that they had met a couple of sheikh’s cousins and I have seen that a lot of people didn’t believe it, but it is true."
She added that, while her son 'might have been looking for beer', all he got was tea and coffee in the end.
"They have always wanted to go to the World Cup. They have tickets for all of England’s group games and they are hopefully going to see England go all the way and win the final."
Alex and his dad are due to fly back home on December 20, but if this is what they got up to on day one, who knows what stories they might come home with?
Ali Condon