Grandpa goes viral for ‘Shake It To The Max’ video

The ' Shake It To The Max' dance video challenge is making an unexpected viral star of retired Jamaica-born, US-based grandfather Henry Anderson, who was featured in a Facebook video.

Anderson, 61, was vacationing with a few of his friends in St Vincent and the Grenadines last week. Two days before returning home, they were frolicking on the beach on Bequia island when they ran into two social media influencers, Gladdest from Trinidad and Tobago, and Kevisha Greaves from St Vincent.

"My friend and co-worker Chris Veira asked them what they were doing and they said that they were shooting a dance video. They asked if we wanted to participate and we happily obliged," Anderson shared.

"Gladdest's manager shot the dance video on March 27 and posted it the following day. The video has spread like wildfire across social media platforms, reaching more than one million views in 72 hours on Facebook. On Instagram, it has amassed 225,000 views so far," he added. Anderson said he didn't know how viral the video was until he returned to New York that Monday.

"My phone started to blow up with calls from friends telling me they saw me on Facebook and Instagram," he said.

Shake It To The Max by Ghanaian singer Moliy is one of the hottest songs, with more than 10 million streams on YouTube since it was released earlier this year. The viral dance challenge propelled the track to No. 1 on YouTube charts in Jamaica, Belize, Guyana, British Virgin Islands and Trinidad and Tobago, and is surging in the USA. A remixed version, featuring Shenseea, Skillibeng and Silent Addy, has racked up 4.3 million views on YouTube since it was posted two weeks ago.

Anderson admitted that prior to shooting the video he had not heard about the dance challenge.

"I didn't know about the song or how to do the dance. Gladdest was trying to teach us, but I improvised and remixed the dance with my own 'drop it down low' dance which connected with social media viewers," he said. Fans have lauded Anderson's performance, commending his "young boy knees".