When professional eater Jamie “The Bear” McDonald couldn’t finish the South Side eating challenge last fall, he knew he would be coming to Bowling Green for a second time.
McDonald is one of three people who have conquered the eating challenge and standa as the only male to have defeated the contest earlier this year. There have been 85 people who have tried the contest.
It’s one of the only challenges I failed so I made it a point to come back,” McDonald said. “It’s probably one of the hardest challenges out there.”
The challenge consists of contestants eating 12 pounds of food in an hour or less. The food consists of six gyros, which contain one pound of meat each along with bread.
People who participate in the challenge will pay $66 to enter and if they conquer it, the reward is $666.
Owner of South Side 6 So Shaheen said the business decided to have this amount of money to enter and as a reward because of the business name, the amount of gyros in the challenge and the amount of meat one has to consume in the hour.
Shaheen said the challenge started in 2010 and he has seen many people try the challenge, some of which who have gotten sick and thrown up during the contest. He knew when McDonald came back for the second time he would defeat the challenge, Shaheen said.
“I knew he was going to People who participate in the challenge will pay $66 to enter and if they conquer it, the reward is $666.
Owner of South Side 6 So Shaheen said the business decided to have this amount of money to enter and as a reward because of the business name, the amount of gyros in the challenge and the amount of meat one has to consume in the hour.
Shaheen said the challenge started in 2010 and he has seen many people try the challenge, some of which who have gotten sick and thrown up during the contest. He knew when McDonald came back for the second time he would defeat the challenge, Shaheen said.
“I knew he was going to finish but I didn’t think he would do it under 45 minutes,” Shaheen said. “The second time he just plowed through them and got it done.”
McDonald said the challenge is so difficult because of how much starch and grain is in the gyro meat and how it expands once in your stomach. He said there is also heavy garlic in the gyro which burnt his mouth after eating so much, making the challenge even more difficult.
“I remember meeting with Shaheen and looking at the ingredient list and just thinking to myself, ‘This shouldn’t be this hard’ but it’s the gyro meat that makes it a challenge,” McDonald said.
McDonald prepares his body before challenges like the gyro challenge by eating protein powder, yogurt and keeping his digestive system relatively clean. One way he prepares is stretching his stomach out by eating four pounds of cauliflower and drinking fluids until he can’t drink anymore.
“With food as big as the gyros, I won’t eat anything solid at least a day before I attempt the challenge,” McDonald said. “I keep an eye on my health and if I ever did notice issues where the food was making me unhealthy, I would stop because it’s not worth it.”
Sophomore Chad Kowalski has known about the gyro eating challenge and has a friend who tried the competition, but couldn’t complete it. The challenge is something that is entertaining, said Kowalski.
“I think the professional eaters coming in to try the challenge is cool because it can help get the word about how good the food is at South Side 6,” Kowalski said. “Not many people know about it other than the locals.”
McDonald said the gyro challenge has been one of the only eating competitions he has failed the first time around.
“It’s hard to find challenges these days to where you’re the first to complete them and it was cool to be the first male to complete it.”
