Featured Image Credit: @alexicontom/Twitter
Topics: US News, Food and Drink, Weird, Viral
Jake Massey
A man in the US has achieved greatness, kind of, after accomplishing what he set out to do - eating 40 rotisserie chickens across 40 consecutive days.
Alexander Tominsky, from Philadelphia, has earned himself the innovative nickname 'Philadelphia Chicken Man' after embarking on his inexplicable quest.
The 31-year-old chronicled his efforts on Twitter, sharing updates as he munched his way through the 40 chickens that stood between him and glory.
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On Sunday (6 November), he invited locals to come along and watch him eat the final chicken.
In an advert shared on Twitter (and stuck on lampposts), he said: "Come watch me eat an entire rotisserie chicken.
"November 6th will be the 40th consecutive day that I have eaten an entire rotisserie chicken. 12 O'Clock noon.
"The chicken will be consumed on that abandoned pier near Walmart.
"This is not a party."
Tominsky laid out a red carpet on said abandoned pier, and somewhat surprisingly, dozens of people turned up to watch him eat the final chicken over the course of an hour.
The assembled spectators chanted 'Eat that bird!" as he chomped his way towards triumph, according to The New York Times.
"I'm happy that it's over," he told the publication. "My body is ready to repair."
As for why he put himself through it, Tominsky hadn't lost a bet, wasn't fundraising for charity, and had nothing to promote - he simply felt that the world was in need, and that he could help spread smiles with this self-imposed quest.
"Sounds weird, but I just felt like I was doing this for a very important reason," he explained.
Like with any challenge of this nature (not that there are too many challenges of this nature), it got increasingly difficult the longer it went on.
Initially, he was smashing through the poultry in 20 minutes, but over time he slowed to as long as two hours, and said it felt like he could 'feel the pulse of my heart in my stomach'.
Despite this, he ended up extending his challenge from 30 to 40 days, because he felt he had not gone far enough.
He recalled: "This is just a little bit of an inconvenience and a sacrifice for the joy that it seems to be bringing people."
Across this period, the chickens were usually all he ate each day, and he actually ended up losing 16lbs - though it's probably not advisable as a diet plan.
By the end, Tominsky said he basically 'drank the chicken' by chewing it up and necking it with water; and while it was undoubtedly a struggle, it became bizarrely meaningful to him.
"This is going to sound strange, but if I happened to, for some silly reason, pass away from this," he said, "I would have been OK with the sacrifice."
Thankfully, the Philadelphia Chicken Man lives to tell the tale.