This American Hero Ate 30,000 Big Macs and Survived

Donald Gorske, the 64-year-old world record holder who's spent the past 46 years on a noble quest to eat a shit-ton of Big Macs, scarfed down his 30,000th burger over the weekend, ABC 2 reports.

Gorske reportedly ate his first Big Mac in the spring of 1972, and he's been chowing down a couple just about every day since. His undying McDonald's love has earned him a spot in the Guinness Book of World Records and in Morgan Spurlock's Super Size Me, but the dude hasn't eaten a herculean amount of all-beef patties and special sauce for the fame—he just really, really, really likes Big Macs.

"Everything about eating Big Macs every day was perfect," Gorske wrote in his self-published book, 22,477 Big Macs—obviously penned a few years ago, back before he hit the big 3-0. "I never had a craving for something different. I had found my perfect food… The stress of having to eat a non-McDonalds meal was over."

He hit the 30,000-burger milestone on Friday and is still going strong with no plans to change up his diet. According to Gorske, he's in perfectly good health and actually weighs less than he did 5,000 burgers ago. He's also taken to eating a daily McDonald's fruit and yogurt parfait because his wife wanted him to eat more fruits and vegetables.

"If I go for 40,000, that'll take me another 14 years or whatever like that," the retired prison guard told ABC 7, there to capture the man's recent Mac milestone. "I don't think people celebrate 35,000 at all, so we're probably looking at 14 more years down the road, and I'll be 78 years old then! So we'll have to see how I'm doing then, you know?"

To be fair, eating 35,000 Big Macs in one lifetime and surviving is certainly worthy of a celebration. Good luck on your quest, Gorske, you really put that guy who ate Chipotle for a few years to shame. See you at 40,000.

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