RIO DELL, California — A California teen's push for social media popularity has him training in a Thai combat sport, planning a trip to Thailand and aspiring to become a mixed-martial arts champion ... with the world watching every step.

Reed Harrington, of Rio Dell, California, innocently put a challenge out on Instagram in September, seeking more followers for his exercise videos. "OK, when I hit 200,000 followers, I'll do whatever the top comment says on this video and post it," he said.

Just four days later, on Oct. 1 last year, he achieved the goal, but undoubtedly wasn't expecting the top comment setting up his very specific task. The challenge put to Reed by fiven9nekid, which had mustered 3,657,558 likes as of Wednesday, reads as follows: "Fly to small town in thailand, get accepted by their people, learn the language, train in (muay) thai for a year and half, fight in a tournament, win the tournament, return to the USA and join the UFC, stay in shape and go undefeated in your weight class, retire and do an interview saying this comment was the reason you fought so hard ..."

Reed, 13, according to his posts, initially balked, calling the top comment "very unrealistic." Muay Thai is a combat sport, also known as Thai boxing. Instead, he said he would complete the task with the second-highest number of likes — run a mile every day for a month — which had garnered around 100,000 likes.

What followed was a mix of posts expressing disappointment, encouragement and understanding.

"Don't let anyone tell you that traveling and becoming a UFC fighter is impossible bro. So many people have done it before. If they can do it so can you! See you on ESPN soon bro," said one commenter.

Among the many other comments, posted verbatim: "Yo No excuse, do the first one lil bro," "I have never felt so scammed," "Bro i didn't followed you for the second most liked comment," and "Come guys he's a kid, you guys really expecting him to go thailand ..."

Reed initially kept to his plan of running a mile a day, his subsequent Instagram exercise videos show. But somewhere along the line, he changed course, deciding to attempt the top challenge after all. Maybe it was the viral attention he got — from the Bangkok Post, an English language newspaper in Thailand; veteran Thai politician Korn Chatikavanij; and, according to The Nation, Muay Thai legend Buakaw Banchamek.

"Hello, I am Buakaw! Both myself and the governor of the Tourism Authority of Thailand extend a warm welcome and are prepared to assist you during your stay in Thailand. I will send you a direct message to discuss this further," the Thai boxer said, according to The Nation, a Thai online media outlet.

Reed, from Rio Dell, California, according to his fundraising page, has started a campaign to raise money to travel to Thailand. His most recent videos, meantime, show him practicing Muay Thai techniques — sweeps, lunges and squats. He's also surpassed 500,000 followers and is now going for 1 million.

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