Things We Didn’t Know About The Man Who Eats A Big Mac Every Day

By Jack Clark 1 year ago

Who Is The Man That Eats A Big Mac Every Day?

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The man in question is Mr. Donald Gorske, and, believe it or not, he has eaten a Big Mac every day for the past 50 years. That's pretty incredible, right? Unbelievable when you consider that he hasn't yet developed some kind of horrible disease. This begs the question - is eating a Big Mac every day actually healthy?

How Many Big Macs Has He Eaten?

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In 2018, Mr. Big Mac himself reached the milestone of consuming 30,000 burgers. His currently number as of 2023 is around 33,000. Apparently, he started eating Big Macs in 1972 and clearly hasn't been able to stop himself since then. By the way, that's around 660 Big Macs a year...that's just under 2 a day...for 50 years!

Let's Go Back To The Start

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Donald Gorske was born in 1953 on the 28th November, making him 69 years old at the time of writing. 1953 was clearly a big year for world events as it was the year that Joseph Stalin died, and Queen Elizabeth II was crowned. The most important one of all was of course the birth of the Donald Gorske!

Born In The USA

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Who knows what person or state Bruce Springsteen was thinking of when he first wrote the lyrics to Born In The USAbut our guess is that he was inspired by Donald Gorske. Our fast food hero was born in Fond Du Lac in Wisconsin. There are plenty of famous people who've been born here over the years, but none hold a candle to Don!

The Fateful Day

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It was May 17th 1972 when Donald Gorske walked into a McDonalds in Fond Du Lac, Wisconsin. He walked up to the counter, and asked the server for not one, not two, but three Big Macs. He ate them all and returned home. However, it clearly wasn't enough as he returned the same day and ordered 6 more!

Donald Missed Out On 5 Years Of Big Macs

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Donald's story takes a sad twist. His first Big Mac might have been over 50 years ago, but Big Mac's have actually been around since 1967. That's right, Don could have actually started his record-breaking Big Mac consumption career 5 years earlier. At 660 BM's a year, he that's an extra 3,300 that he's sadly missed out on.

Tracking The Macs

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Amazingly, Don had the foresight to start writing down how many he had consumed. It started off as a bit of a joke, but the more BM's he put away, the more the list grew. By the end of his first mac-consuming month, he put ate over 250 BM's. At this point, he knew his mission, his destiny - never stop eating Big Mac's.

Multiple Mac's

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What a lot of people don't seem to understand about our Lord and Saviour, Don Gorske, is that he doesn't just have one Big Mac per day. Those are rookie numbers, one a day is easy. For Don, one BM is a warm-up. In his prime, Don could wolf down 10 Big Mac's in a single day. Inspirational.

Don Is A Certified Athlete

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For people to break world records, it requires years of training and hard work, along with blood sweat and a healthy dose of tears. Don is no different to the athletes we see in the olympics. In fact, he has broken numerous world records throughout his career. He doesn't do it for the awards or the adulation though, he does is for the people.

He Found Love In A Hopeless Place

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The problem with record-breakers such as Don is that their work and career often hinders their ability to find love and keep relationships. However, Don channelled his inner Rihanna and found love with his wife Mary. They met in 1973, and he even proposed to her in the parking lot of a McDonald's!

He Ate A Big Mac Before He Got Married

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Ever been to a wedding and the food was a bit weird, or maybe even disappointing? The whole day can be made or broken depending on how well the catering is done. Don decided it wasn't worth the risk to have potentially bad food at his wedding so, before he walked down the aisle, he polished off another Big Mac!

Don Was On TV

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Back in 2004, the popular TV show Super Size Me bought on Don as an expert in Big Mac's. They absolutely nailed this as there is no one in the world who understands Big Mac's more than DG. Who better to discuss the intricacies of the Big Mac than Don?

30,000 Big Mac's

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We all know that Don Gorske loves Big Mac's. In fact, back in 2018, Don courageously finished his 30,000th Big Mac since beginning his career back in 1972. At an average of 3,000 every 5 years, we reckon there's a chance he could hit the 40,000 mark. If he makes it to 80 years old, he'll definitely get close!

He's Also An Author

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That's right, our hero Don Gorske doesn't just consumer Big Mac's for a living, he's also a legitimate author. Don wrote the book 22,477 Big Macs which has sold well since he released it in 2008. People have bought the book to see if they've got what it takes to eat a Big Mac every day.

OCD

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According to Don, the main and biggest reason he ended up keeping track of the insane amount of Big Mac's he was consuming was entirely because of his OCD. Once he started keeping track of the Big Macs, it was literally impossible for him to stop. His OCD along with his passion for consuming Big Macs forced him to keep track of everything.

Notebook

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When Don first started keeping track of his Big Mac consumption, he knew he needed a simple but effective way to write all of it down. He started by bringing a notebook and a pen with him so that he could write it down every time he visited a McDonalds and had a Big Mac. To this day, it is how he keeps track of them.

Burger Receipts

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On top of the notebook, Don has said in multiple interviews that he's actually kept nearly every receipt from McDonalds to back up his notebook. Along with having physical proof of his burger-eating, it also serves him as a reminder of his life's work - consuming Big Mac's everyday!

Amazingly, He Isn't Overweight

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What will surprise most people is that Don isn't overweight. In fact, his bodyweight hasn't fluctuated much over the years, if at all, and these days he weighs around 185 pounds. You'd think that a guy who pretty much exclusively eats McDonald's fast food would be carrying a bit of timber, but not Don!

He's Quite Tall

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Another thing that surprises most people when they meet Don is how tall he is. In fact, Don has a respectable height of 6ft2in. He's not exactly basketball-player height, but given that the average height of an American guy is 5ft9in, we'd say he's actually pretty darn tall.

He Only Drinks Coca-Cola

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Most Americans have a weak spot when it comes to soda, and Don is no different. According to the man himself, he pretty much exclusively drinks Coca-Cola. He probably still drinks the occasional bottle of water, but he loads up on the Coca-Cola the rest of the time, especially when he orders the usual Big Mac.

No Fries

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One of the tactics that Don employs when it comes to keeping the weight off is that he rarely orders fries with his Big Mac. This is a smart move, as McDonald's fries have around 400 calories in them. A Big Mac does have 550 calories, but adding fries makes the meal nearly 1,000 calories.

He Has A Statue Of Ronald McDonald

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If Don wasn't already considered the number one fan of McDonalds, then his life size statue of Ronald McDonald in his backyard definitely proves this. For a man who has consumed over 30,000 McDonalds burgers, having only one statue actually seems rather tame!

He Kept All The Burger Boxes In His Car

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For a while, Don actually kept all of the boxes of the Big Mac's that he'd consumed in the truck and back seats of his car. He didn't really know what else to do with them, and his OCD stopped him from throwing all of them in the track. To Don, they served him as a reminder of his Big Mac achievements.

He's Loyal

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You'd think that a man as passionate about burgers as Don is would have eaten loads of different fast food burgers. With places like Burger King, White Castle and In N' Out, the options are endless. In the 70s, his friend bet him 5 bucks that he wouldn't eat from another chain - Don had his first and only burger from Burger King, and never ate their again.

The Bet Winnings Were Spend On Big Macs

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Fresh off of the bet with his friend, Don went straight to the nearest McDonalds and spent his five dollar winnings on a couple of Big Macs. In fact, he felt that he'd cheated on McDonalds by eating a Whopper from Burger King, and vowed to only eat burgers from McDonalds from then on.

His Cholesterol Is 140

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According to most doctors, a cholesterol level below 200 mg/dl is considered healthy. Surprisingly, Don's cholesterol level has sat around 140-160 mg/dl for the past 50 years. It's amazing that he appears to be metabolically healthy even with a diet that consists of lots of fat and carbs.

Apparently He Can't Taste The Big Mac Anymore

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After a lifetime of eating one food, it's no surprise that he's lost his taste for it. According to Don, he sometimes can't even taste the Big Mac's that he consumes. However, like the true athlete that Don is, he powers through every day and still puts away at least one Big Mac a day.

Birthday Big Mac

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Every year on Don's birthday, he gets himself a Big Mac and celebrates by putting candles into the top of the burger. Why on earth would you have a cake when you can pop down to your local McDonalds and grab a Big Mac! To be fair, there's so much sugar in a Big Mac that it may as well be a birthday cake...

He Has An Emergency Big Mac Stash

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According to Don, he's only missed eight days of Big Mac consumption in the 50 years of eating them. He stated that on a couple of days he was snowed in and couldn't get to a McDonalds, and a few of them he was stuck at work. This affected Don so much that he now keeps a stash of Big Mac's so that he always has one in an emergency.

The Man, The Myth, The Legend 

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Think what you want about Don and his crazy Big Mac habit, but eating one thing everyday for over 50 years is very impressive thing to do. It might not be healthy, and the whole thing might be a bit pointless, but it shows that if you have the willpower and the discipline you can stick at something!