The livestreamed death of an extreme eater who gorged on seafood and chocolate cake in a 10-hour food binge has sparked warnings over the internet trend.
Pan Xiaoting keeled over in front of horrified Mukbang fans on July 14. A grim autopsy revealed the former waitress’ stomach was left “deformed” and full of “undigested food.”
The 24-year-old influencer from China was famous for chowing down on around 10kgs of food during 10-hour eating marathons and had reportedly been hospitalised before for gastrointestinal bleeding.
READ MORE: Horror as extreme eater, 24, dies during livestream after 10-hour food binge
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In 2020, China introduced regulations to curb excessive eating in Mukbang content with streamers facing fines if they violate the rules.
(Image: Jam Press)
The platform originated in South Korea in the mid-200s before becoming a global trend over the last decade.
The tragedy has sparked warnings over the dangers of such online feats as well as shining a light on other extreme eating deaths.
Here we take a look at them:
Taylor LeJeune
(Image: wafffler69/Instagram)
TikTok star, Taylor LeJeune went viral for scoffing bizarre snacks and expired food.
The influencer known as Waffler69 – had 1.8 million followers when he died aged 33 from a suspected heart attack last year.
He chowed down on canned ham from 1960, reindeer meat and baby food.
In waffler69’s last TikTok video before his death, he ate a Big Fruit Loop dipped in milk after a follower suggested it.
Taylor’s father and grandfather both died from heart failure before the age of 50.
Travis Malouff and Caitlyn Nelson
(Image: Facebook)
Travis Malouff, 42 choked to death while attempting to devour a half-pound doughnut in an extreme eating contest in 2017.
He died on the same day as 20-year-old student, Caitlyn Nelson who choked as she tried to speed-eat a pile of pancakes during a separate charity event.
Malouff was reportedly taking part in the the “Tex-Ass” challenge, at a Denver branch of the Voodoo Doughnut chain, when tragedy struck.
The challenge sees participants try and eat a monster doughnut six times the normal size in under 80 seconds.
Eyewitness Julia Edelstein told KUSA-TV: “It’s too much food for one person, even as the size that he was. That’s too much for someone to eat. He was trying to force it down.”
Meanwhile, student, Caitlyn who suffered from multiple food allergies, began choking during a pancake-eating contest.
Police said two nurses at the contest tried to save her life until paramedics arrived, but Nelson died in a New York hospital two days later.
Madelyn “Madie” Lee Nicpon
(Image: Alonso Nichols / Tufts University)
Madelyn “Madie” Lee Nicpon, 20, of Suffern, New York died after choking during a hot dog eating contest in 2021.
The Tufts University lacrosse player was taking part for a charity fundraiser which went badly wrong.
Tufts said first responders performed “extensive life-saving procedures” and Nicpon was initially taken to Mt. Auburn Hospital in Cambridge before being transferred to Massachusetts General in Boston, where she later died.
Other cases
(Image: Heritage Images/Getty Images)
King Adolph of Sweden died in 1771 after consuming a massive meal of lobster, caviar, sauerkraut, smoked herring, champagne, and 14 servings of dessert in hot milk.
A 22-year-old Hungarian woman also died in 2006 after eating so much that her massively distended stomach compressed her aorta and femoral arteries, sending her into shock.
A British woman underwent gastric bypass surgery but continued secretly to eat excess food and died after food that could no longer fit into her stomach clogged her throat and led to suffocation.
And a 77-year-old Ukrainian man suffered a heart attack after participating in a speed-eating contest of potato dumplings.
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