By Dayne Hudson
Everyone knows someone who can eat.
But this guy, Ravenous Randy Santel, is something else.
The 28-year-old is a competitive eater who can smash 9000 calories without hesitiating.
And he did this consistently, eating his way through the UK's most feared eating challenges and consuming just under 200,000 calories from 92kg worth of food in the process.
And you though you ate a lot on holidays.
“I was following a career in construction but I’m glad I’ve converted and can’t wait to keep taking on large meals, I feel like it was what I was born to do" he said.
“When I feel full I remember the other billions of people who hate their job, like I used to who wish they don’t have to do it which puts it into perspective — basically I’m eating, working out and travelling I can’t complain."
Randy hails from the Missouri in the US, and travelled to the UK where he finished 42 food challenges in total.
“At home around 70 per cent of the challenges are big burgers, so here I tried to tackle British food including my new favourite meal, bangers and mash" he said.
“My favourite challenge so far has been a 12 inch (30cm) burger the size of a Mini Cooper wheel with 200g of chips."
“Everyone was cheering my name, more than 100 people watched and I even made front page news" he boasts.
He set himself the goal of 250 extreme food victories across the USA and Europe, and surpassed it.
Compare this to ex-competitive eater Adam Richman from TV show Man Versus Food, who did 48 in 2 years, and you can see why Randy is most likely the rightly holder of the World's Biggest Eater crown.
And what was the most challenging meal of all?
He says it was the four individual foot-long breakfast sandwiches and a bowl of chips at Mac’s Cafe in Burton-upon-Trent.
But before you book your flights to the UK to see how you fare, Randy has this advice.
“Competitive eating isn’t something that everybody can do, most professionals only do three challenges a month — I did one every day with only a couple days of rest" he says.
“I can almost tell you what time I’ll finish before my first bite, I know what my body can do so I can work out my tactics from there."
So when did he learn of his eating talents?
“My grandma would tease me saying that I could slow down as no one was trying to steal my food, I think that was an early sign growing up that I could conquer such epic food challenges" he reveals.
Randy says he also owes his appetite to his father.
“I get my eating from my Dad, we were always very hungry men and there’s a big joke in my family about there never being any leftovers" he said.
Randy also appeared in TV show Spartacus: Gods of the Arena, after winning a magazine competition for males to transform their physiques into one that resembles a spartan, in just 12 weeks.
Randy lost 12.7kg (or 28 pounds) in two months but his desire for huge meals was still bugging him!
“After winning the (magazine) competition me and a buddy took on a meat challenge and shocked the owners by completing it, that’s when I realised I wanted to pursue this seriously" he recounts.
And so that's when it all started.
But back at his home in St Peters, Missouri, Randy say he'll now be downsizing his meals and aiming for healthier choices, to try and balance out his incredibly high holiday calorie intake.
“I’ll be on a diet from now on to lose any weight I’ve gained and to let my body recover, so it’ll be back to vegetables for me for a good while” he said.
“It will be back to canned vegetables and sandwiches for me now — it’s a world away from my eating challenges.”
And by the look of the below, he's certainly right.
