Man had over an hour to beat SC restaurant chili dog eating record. Watch how fast he crushes it
Just call him Beard Meets Food.
The European top ranked competitive eater, Adam Moran sauntered into, of all places, Skin’s Hot Dogs in Easley on a recent rainy day to take on the hot-dog eating challenge.
It was fairly early in the day and not too many customers were in the Upstate staple, originally started in a pool hall in 1948 by Skin Thrasher. The hot dogs — a combination of pork and beef — topped with mildly seasoned chili soon became a favorite and Thrasher got rid of the pool tables and stopped selling everything else.
To this day, customers walk in and are greeted with “how many?” (There are chips, pound cake and cookies as well). They have 11 locations.
Moran, who lives in Leeds, England, could not be reached for comment, and Skin’s is closed on Mondays, so how he ended up in Easley couldn’t be determined.
Mashed, a food website, said in a profile that Moran began competitive eating in 2010 and has won a number of major events — 10th in the Nathan’s Hot Dog Eating Contest in 2019.
Known for his black and immaculately kept beard, he posts his eating challenges on his YouTube channel, which has 3.7 million followers.
Moran told ShortList he started competitive eating after he did strength training in his mid-20s.
“I got down to something like 8 percent body fat,” he said.
He felt he needed a reward. He signed up for an eating challenge in Leeds, his hometown about 200 miles north of London.
He liked it and did more. Then he started videotaping himself and his YouTube channel blew up.
“Before I knew it, I was making more money from my eating exploits than from my actual job,” he told Mashed.
That was the end of his career in banking.
Major League Eating ranks him No. 17 in the world (Joey Chestnut of Nathan’s hot dog fame is first).
Mashed said he ate 10 Burger King spicy Angriest Whoppers in less than 25 minutes, 7 pounds of pancakes in 18 minutes, and 17 Big Macs in one hour.
On the day he showed up at Skin’s, an employee who is not named described the challenge. More than 16 hot dogs, less than 1 hour 18 minutes.
Moran looks unfazed.
He replies: He wants 20. With chili. No onions. No condiments.
The employee suggests ordering them in small amounts so he won’t have to pay for the ones he can’t finish. The reward for setting a new record is free hot dogs, a tee-shirt and his photo on the wall.
Moran is nonplussed. He’ll take them all.
He says his signature line: “Let’s get it!”
And he then proceeds to eat them one by one as if he’s having a leisurely meal.
He easily gets to 16. The other four go down as smoothly as the first.
His time: 15 minutes, 53 seconds.
While in South Carolina, Moran also took on the challenge at Mac’s Speed Shop in Greenville: a sandwich of pulled pork, brisket, burger patties, onions, pickles, slaw and a half pound side of mac ‘n cheese. If you can’t eat all that, you’ve got to pay for the $77 meal and your photo goes on the wall of shame.
This one was a bit more difficult because the meat was spicy.
No worries, he downed the meal in 22 minutes, 38 seconds.
Then he ordered dessert: apple cobbler.
