Sure, in the throes of our gnarliest hangovers, we’ve all sought solace in a crumpled brown paper bag stuffed to the gills with a criminal amount of cheeseburgers. But few, if any, of us commit to that as a 24/7 lifestyle.
Those of you with movie-addled brains might remember Don Gorske. Gorkse was featured heavily throughout Morgan Spurlock‘s culture-shifting 2004 documentary Super Size Me, in which Spurlock ate nothing but McDonald’s for one calendar month and found, to everyone’s surprise, that it was not exactly good for his health.
Gorske is an anomaly to the rule; the 64-year-old Wisconsin bloke fiends obsessively on the holy Big Mac, and has done ever since 1972 when he put away his first one.
Back in October, Guinness World Records officially recognised Gorske as having consumed the most Big Macs of any one man, when he put away sammich number 29,482. And over the weekend, he hit the golden milestone of 30,000.
That’s 30,000 Big Mac burgers consumed since May 17th, 1972, at an average of 1.78 Big Macs per day, every day, for 45 years, 11 months, and 18 days.
Gorske estimates that, since he took his first bite of a Big Mac, there’s been about 8 days where he hasn’t consumed a sandwich; one where he drove through a rotten snowstorm to get to a McDonald’s, only to find the store was closed, and one on the day his mother passed away, fulfilling a promise made to her.
Gorske reportedly gave a half-hour presentation before biting into his historic burg at the Fond du Lac McDonald’s location in central Wisconsin, detailing his meticulous record keeping; he keeps every receipt, sandwich wrapper, and container. All of them fastidiously documented, save for around 7,000 styrofoam containers which were said to have been blown away by a tornado in 1990. Seriously.
And then, at approximately 3:30pm on Friday (local time), the man with one of the most inexplicable haircuts alive bit into burger number 30,000, with news cameras watching. Truly, a glorious moment. A kingly achievement.
It’s one for the history books. He’s done it. Local folk hero Don Gorske has eaten his 30,000th Big Mac. Let the record show it took place 3:30pm at the Fond du Lac @McDonalds. He cautions this may be his last milestone, projecting 40,000 would come in 2032. #SuperSizeMe #WISN12 pic.twitter.com/4rJ5lTCYui
— Nick Bohr (@NickBohrWISN) May 4, 2018
Don Gorske is my hometown hero. He has been eating Big Macs daily since they were introduced 50 years ago. pic.twitter.com/rv8SdBKrth
— Fred Boness (@FredBoness) May 6, 2018
Somehow despite the mountain of burgies old mate has wolfed down, his health remains in reported immaculate condition. Gorske claims that his last medical check up returned normal cholesterol and blood pressure levels. His secret, he claims, is only ever eating the burgers, not the fries.
After achieving the mighty feat, Gorske – a now-retired prison guard – simply purchased another sandwich and headed home to enjoy it.
He estimates he’ll hit 40,000 by 2032, by which time he will be 78.
