A Wisconsin man with the world record of McDonald’s Big Macs eaten extended his lifetime record last week to 34,000 after consuming 728 more last year.
Don Gorske — a 70-year-old retired prison officer — ate his first Big Mac in 1972, and has since been obsessed with the iconic McDonald’s burger by eating 34,128 of them for over a half-century, per Guinness World Records.
He first achieved the title in 1999 and has kept the record in his name.
“Many people thought I’d be dead by now, but instead, I’ve been a record holder for my 24th year — one of Guinness World Records’ longer-running record holders, so that’s pretty cool to me,” he told Business Insider.
Gorske’s love for the Big Mac
His passion for the McDonald’s sandwich started when he first tried it in May 17, 1972.
“In that moment, I said: ‘I’m going to probably eat these for the rest of my life.’ I threw the cartons in the back seat and started counting them from day one,” he said to Guinness World Records.
Gorske since that fateful day has collected every container and receipt tied to his Big Mac purchases.
Word of Gorske’s habit garnered media attention, and in turn, per Business Insider, led to “relentless” verbal abuse among prisoners whom he supervised. Despite this, fellow prison officers supported Gorske with his Big Mac passion and even snuck in the burgers for when he worked double shifts.
His wife — who Gorske coincidentally proposed to in a McDonald’s parking lot — has been supportive of her husband’s passion. “She has put up with a lot of obsessive compulsive things I do and hasn’t let my Big Mac thing get to her,” Gorske shared to Guinness World Records.
Gorske’s devotion for the Big Mac was so obsessive that he ate as many as nine burgers a day when he started — but since retirement, he has kept it down to two a day.
How does Gorske maintain his diet?
Gorske walks six miles a day to help keep his physique. In addition to eating fewer Big Macs a day, he also doesn’t eat breakfast and McDonald’s fries to maintain his diet, according to The Guardian.
He also told Business Insider that he may have an evening snack such as a fruit bar, ice cream or potato chips, but his diet mostly consists of eating Big Macs.
“I’m healthy as a horse. I weigh 190 pounds, and my cholesterol is 165,” Gorske shared to the New York Post. “I’m better than normal.”
Diets centering on fast food are consistently linked to chronic health problems. This is further highlighted by the 2004 documentary “Super Size Me,” showcasing a man’s declining health during and after eating McDonald’s for 30 straight days. As a counterpoint, the documentary also featured Gorske and his maintained diet, per Business Insider.
Gorske’s legacy and future plans
According to Guinness World Records, Gorske is so beloved at his local McDonald’s that he has his own portrait hung up at the location.
In 2022, his local restaurant put up a sign commemorating Gorske’s 50th anniversary, which was later posted to Guinness World Records’ X (formerly Twitter) account:
“Congrats Don on 50 years of Macs.”
When asked if he’ll retire from eating Big Macs, Gorske replied, “When I like something, I stick with it all the time,” reported Guinness World Records.