A retired Wisconsin prison guard surpassed his world record for most Big Macs consumed in a lifetime after chowing down on another 728 burgers in 2023 to bring his total to 34,000.
Don Gorske, 70, has eaten at least two hamburgers every day since 1972.
While prices have risen, from less than $1 in 1972 to $4.15 in 2023, their appetite for fast-food burgers remains insatiable.
“A lot of people thought he would be dead by now,” he told Guinness World Records in an interview to announce his recent achievement.
Don Gorske, 68, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, celebrated Tuesday having eaten a Big Mac almost every day for the past 50 years at his local McDonald’s.
Gorske (pictured with his 20,000th Big Mac in 2004) tried the McDonald’s menu item for the first time on May 17, 1972.
Gorske has kept track of every Big Mac he’s owned over the past five decades.
Gorske’s unwavering love for Big Macs was born half a century ago, when he ate McDonald’s signature burger for the first time on May 17, 1972.
He says it was love at first bite.
“I’m probably going to eat this for the rest of my life,” he thought to himself.
He kept the receipt for his order, as well as the burger packaging, something he continued to do with each subsequent order, amassing 50 years of McDonald’s receipts and Big Mac boxes.
At the height of his Big Mac fever, Gorske ate nine hamburgers a day, but he has since reduced that number to just under two a day, and he takes certain measures: walking six miles a day, skipping breakfast, giving up potatoes fried and other sides – to preserve your health.
Don Gorske, 68, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has been consuming an average of two Big Macs a day since he ate his first one on May 17, 1972.
Don Gorske, 68, of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has been consuming an average of two Big Macs a day since he ate his first one on May 17, 1972.
In 1999, Gorske had taken the title of most Big Macs consumed in a lifetime.
In 2011, it surpassed the 25,000 burger mark.
In 2023 alone, Gorske ate 728 Big Macs, bringing his total to 34,128.
In addition to the Guinness World Records title, Don Gorske’s notable achievement is also commemorated at his local McDonalds, where his portrait is on the wall.
Like any other competitor, Don Gorske would not have been able to reach the top without the support of his loved ones, especially his wife, Mary, to whom he proposed in the parking lot of his McDonald’s.
“She’s put up with a lot of the obsessive-compulsive things I do and hasn’t let my Big Mac get to her.”
Gorske appeared as a “Big Mac expert” in the 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” which chronicled Morgan Spurlock’s attempt to eat only McDonald’s food for an entire month.
He appeared as a “Big Mac expert” in the 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” which chronicled Morgan Spurlock’s attempt to eat only McDonald’s food for an entire month.
The rapid deterioration of Spurlock’s health during the social experiment did not scare Gorske away from the Big Mac, which has approximately 550 calories. He has claimed in the past that his cholesterol and blood pressure are normal, despite his hamburger-eating habit.
Friends and family also brought him Big Macs from other countries, which he ate despite the lack of refrigeration.
In the last 50 years, he has only gone eight days without his beloved burger.
In 1982, he drove through a snowstorm to get his favorite food, only to discover that McDonald’s was closed. Gorske also refrained from eating one the day her mother died, as a way of honoring her.
“They’re very good to me,” he told WBAY of the fast-food burger. “There’s really nothing else I’d rather eat.”
He has two display cases dedicated to his achievement: one contains approximately 50 iterations of the Big Mac container, while the other contains the calendar he first used to track his burger consumption.
‘The advice I would give to anyone who wanted to challenge my record title is “don’t do it.” I’ll be dead before you can even challenge him,” he told Guinness World Records.
“I am blessed with a high metabolism and good health that allows me to eat Big Macs without gaining much weight,” he added. “I might be the only person alive who could eat Big Macs every day without ill effects for 50 years.”
Gorske plans to eat Big Macs until the day he dies.
“If I go for 40,000, it’ll take me another 14 years or something,” he told WBAY in 2018. “I don’t think people will celebrate 35,000 at all, so we’re probably looking at 14 plus or minus years.” the road, and then I will be 78 years old!
“Then we’ll have to see how it goes, you know?”