As someone who’s attempted a number of food challenges, a restaurant offering to pay for my gravestone if I die while eating their massive meal is probably the easiest way to get me in the door.
Call it gluttony, call it waste; it doesn’t change the fact that for a food lover with a big appetite, challenges are immense fun. They’re never advised as a daily option – simply a one-off feat of animalistic endurance, whether it be a hulk-sized breakfast, arse-rupturing chicken wings or, in the case of The George Pub & Grill, the ultimate burger challenge.
The County Durham pub’s latest meaty creation is the Big Ben Number 10 – made up of 10 burgers and dozens of slices of cheese, weighing a mental 1.5kg all in, not to mention the chips. It costs £28.95, but if you’re feeling particularly hungry, you can pay an extra £6.90 for extra bacon and cheese.
Watching your weight? Not to worry, the burger only amounts to 12,000 calories – or around five times your recommended daily intake.
A burger such a size comes with a health warning, obviously – but Craig Harker, 32, who owns the George, has pledged £500 towards your gravestone if you kick the bucket mid-munch.
Craig said:
This burger is absolutely stacked high with juicy meat from top to bottom – 60 oz of beef tipped with so much cheese and 25 bacon rashers. If people want, they can add a further dollop of liquid cheese over the whole dish, which – by the way – makes it even tastier.
This burger will go down as bragging rights with friends, and I can see all the big eaters going for our Big Ben Number 10. With over 12,000 calories, the meal comes with a warning to eat at your own risk, but there’s some compensation – if it kills you, we’ll pay up to £500 for your headstone.
When creating a food challenge, one has to make sure it’s actually doable. Harker knew exactly the man for the job: he invited competitive eater Kyle Gibson, of YouTube channel Kyle V Food, to the pub to give Big Ben Number 10 a try. Gibson has been making waves in the competitive eating world, recently appearing on a Channel 4 documentary, Battle of the Super Eaters.
For an insight into Gibson’s talents, have a look at the video below:
Safe to say, Gibson managed the burger: in a whopping 21 minutes and 56 seconds, including the chips.
Gibson said:
That burger was absolutely delicious – the best I’ve ever tasted. It was so soft, full of flavour, and filled a small hole. Overall, it’s a quality burger.
Harker’s pub has made headlines before: in 2016, he created the 8,000 calorie Parmo Kebab, made up of two large pieces of breaded chicken covered in melted cheese, and filled with kebab meat.
Harker added:
We are the meatiest pub in the UK, serving up dishes like the UK’s biggest steak – at 220 oz – so it’s fitting to open up with a new menu where the customer can pick a host of burgers with any number of patties, from one to 10.
People can make up their own minds without having salad and healthy-eating fads rammed down their throats constantly.
It’ll take 33 hours for me to run to the pub from here. I think I’ll burn enough calories to make eating that delicious-looking monster acceptable – see you there.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.