Tony’s Table Throwdown began as one man’s uphill mission to put the limits of his body, mind and metabolism to the test by downing 50 Big Macs in less than 20 minutes. A crushing blow came in the form of a doctor’s suggestion that eating over 28,000 calories in one sitting would have disastrous consequences on his physical well-being. Instead, Tony Chaboude conceded to host six students in SLU’s first-ever Big Mac Daddy Competition on Oct. 13. Inspired by competitive eating legends like Joey Chestnut and Matt Stonie, Chaboude declared “eating competitions between people are more fun because there are goals and things at stake.” After weeks of advertisement and crowdfunding, the prize pool included $100 cash for the first place winner and gift cards to local businesses for second and third place.
As the clock ticked down to the designated start time, Grand Dining Hall filled with spectators and curious onlookers. One at a time, the McGladiators entered the ring and took their seats. The field was made up of entirely volunteer underclassmen: Joe Glaser, Jacob Zorc, Sahand Darwish, Rashid Albaharna, Thomas McNamara and Will Naftzger. With the table full of burgers and a room full of energy, Chaboude began his introductions and announcements. The final surprise as teased on social media came in the form of a healthy topping of Taco Bell’s Diablo Sauce on one of each competitor’s Big Macs. With the preliminary announcements out of the way, and the nerves heightened, the countdown ended and the eating began.
Though the competition started 10 minutes behind schedule, the contestants quickly made up for the lost time as they tunneled their way through mounds of sesame seed buns and beef patties. McNamara’s strategy seemed to be to compress the burgers as flat as possible before working his way through. However, Albaharna’s method of eating straight through each one without pause allowed him to take the lead. While the brute force game plan afforded Albaharna some distance between his five opponents, that gap was quickly overtaken as he struggled to down his third Big Mac. Seeing the opportunity, Darwish eagerly took advantage of Albaharna’s hesitation and jumped to the frontrunner position.
With the final Big Mac boxes open and the contestants’ hands coated with grease, the $100 grand prize spurred the six food fighters on toward the first place ribbon. While others’ hands were full of meat, one man’s hands pumped into the air as a sign of absolute triumph: Sahand Darwish had taken the win in just over seven minutes. He took a victory lap around the cheering crowd, ending it by eating the last few bites of Albaharna’s fourth burger. With five and one-third Big Macs in his stomach and $100 in his wallet, Darwish sat triumphantly to watch the rest of the warriors duel it out.
In the end, Albanharna was unable to finish the challenge, handing off his final burger to Chaboude. Second place went to Zorc, with Naftzger claiming third. The 2,815 calorie count of the five burgers left all of the contestants reeling except for Darwish, who declared in a brief post-win interview that he was “feeling great, but a bit hungry.” In an interview conducted by DineSLU, he asserted that his victory was because he “spent the last 18 years of [his] life eating nonstop.” Ultimately, Chaboude’s hope is that his Table Throwdown will become a bi-annual event at SLU with various food challenges and competitors each time, and wishes to say “thank you to everyone for supporting one of my dreams.”
