Americans love to watch people eat astounding amounts of food.
That’s the entire premise of the annual Nathan’s 4th of July hot dog eating contest. You put a bunch of people on stage — some who look the part and others who do not — and make them jam hot dogs down their throats until a champion is crowned.
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It’s both barbaric and hard to look away.
Competitive eating has actually faded in popularity compared to a few years ago when some of the bigger names in the “sport” were household names. Fox even aired some competitive eating competitions where many Americans learned that categories when beyond hot dogs and chicken wings to harder-to-comprehend ones like “butter.”
One of the king’s of the eating circuit, Takeru “Hot Dog” Kobayashi is from Nagano, Japan. For years, he took on American Joey Chestnut for the mustard-colored belt that marks the winner of the Nathan’s contest.
The two did reprise that rivalry for a Netflix special where the two titans of eating a lot of hot dogs quickly squared off. During “Chestnut vs. Kobayashi: Unfinished Beef,” Chestnut ate 83 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win the $100,000 grand prize, while Kobayashi took in a more modest 66.
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Restaurant Brand International’s QSR Burger King, actually no longer serves hot dogs (it once did and has tried to bring them back multiple times). Instead, it has focused on hamburgers and it’s having an eating contest of its own.
Burger King has released numerous Whopper variants over the past few years.
Image source: Shutterstock
Burger King launched one-pound burger eating contest
The classic Burger King Whopper uses a single, quarter pound patty. That makes a Double Whopper a half pound of meat (before cooking) which is a pretty meaty sandwich.
The Delamaxis, a variation on The Whopper comes with four patties, bacon, sauce, lettuce, tomato, and cheese.
It seems hard to picture anyone eating more than one Delamaxis as it’s basically a quadruple Whopper with bacon, but challengers will be lining up across the Japan for a special “One Pounder Challenge 2025.”
The event will span 38 Japanese Burger King locations., the highest number ever for the challenge, which will run for 6 days from Friday, May 23 to Wednesday, May 28.
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An entry fee costs 3,900 Yen (roughly $26.61) and for that fee contestants get a Delamaxis, small fries, and a medium drink. Finish any of them and you can request another.
“You can order refills of any item, provided that you have finished each item .Even if you haven’t finished the french fries, You can have a refill of the burger as long as you have finished the burger,” according to the event site.
The company also shared a hilarious warning that seems to go against the spirit of the event.
“Enjoy all-you-can-eat within reasonable limits and Enjoy the delicious food.
Please be careful not to overeat,” it shared.
A single Delamaxis seems like overeating, but that may be relative in an all-you-can-eat contest. The fries and drink are not actually part of the contest, which will build toward a big winner.
Burger King goes over the top
The company also shared a hilarious warning that seems to go against the spirit of the event.
“Enjoy all-you-can-eat within reasonable limits and Enjoy the delicious food. Please be careful not to overeat,” it shared.
A single Delamaxis seems like overeating, but that may be relative in an all-you-can-eat contest. The fries and drink are not actually part of the contest, which will build toward a big winner.
“In 2025, the all-you-can-eat event will be held three times a year,” the chain shared. “In addition, at the end of the year, we will hold a final where the three people who finish the most burgers in each round (a total of nine people) will be invited to compete,” it added.
Burger King also shared how it will judge ties.
“If two or more customers have eaten the same number of burgers, we will determine the winner by the weighing remaining burgers. If the weights are also the same, we will hold a lottery. Thanks for your understanding,” it added.
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The fast-food chain also shared another warning in the fine print.
“We are not responsible for accidents or illness caused by excessive speed eating or eating too much,” it warned.
