Retired prison guard retains Guinness World Record for most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime after chomping down on 728 patties in a year - bringing his grand total to 34,000

• ‘Many people thought I’d be dead by now,’ Don Gorske says after surpassing 34,000 burgers
•  At one point he ate nine burgers a day and was named the record holder in 1999
•  After his first burger in 1972, Gorske has kept every receipt and Big Meal box from his meals

A retired prison guard from Wisconsin has topped his world record for the most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime after chomping down on another 728 patties in 2023 to bring his grand total to 34,000.

Don Gorske, 70, has eaten at least two of the burgers every day since 1972.

While prices have gone up, from less than $1 in 1972 to $4.15 in 2023, his appetite for the fast food patties remains insatiable.

‘Many people thought I’d be dead by now,’ he told Guinness World Records in an interview to herald his recent achievement.

Don Gorske, 68, from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, celebrated eating a Big Mac nearly every day for the past 50 years at his local McDonald’s on Tuesday

Gorske (pictured having his 20,000th Big Mac in 2004) tried the McDonald’s menu item for the first time on May 17, 1972

Gorske has kept track of all the Big Macs he’s had over the past five decades

Gorske’s steadfast love for Big Macs was born half-a-century ago when he ate McDonald’s flagship burger for the first time on May 17, 1972.

He says it was love at first bite.

‘I’m going to probably eat these for the rest of my life,’ he thought to himself.

He held on to the receipt from his order, as well as the burger’s container- something he’s continued to do with every subsequent order, amassing 50-years worth of McDonald’s receipts and Big Mac boxes.

At the height of his Big Mac fever, Gorske was gobbling up nine burgers a day, but he has since reduced that number to just below two a day, and he takes certain measures- walking six miles a day, skipping breakfast, forswearing fries and other sides- to preserve his health.

Don Gorske, 68, from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has been averaging two Big Macs a day since he ate his first one on May 17, 1972

Don Gorske, 68, from Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, has been averaging two Big Macs a day since he ate his first one on May 17, 1972

By 1999, Gorske had clinched the title for most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime.

In 2011, he munched his way past the 25,000-burger mark.

In just 2023 alone, Gorske ate 728 Big Macs, bringing his total to 34,128.

In addition to the Guinness World Records title, Don Gorske’s remarkable achievement is also commemorated at his local McDonalds, where his portrait sits on the wall.

Like any other competitor, Don Gorske could not have eaten his way to the top without the support of his loved ones, especially his wife, Mary, whom he proposed to in his McDonald’s parking lot.

‘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 was featured as a ‘Big Mac expert’ in the 2004 documentary ‘Super Size Me,’ which chronicled Morgan Spurlock’s attempt to eat only McDonald’s food for an entire month

He was featured as a ‘Big Mac expert’ in the 2004 documentary ‘Super Size Me,’ which chronicled Morgan Spurlock’s attempt to eat only McDonald’s food for an entire month.

Spurlock’s rapidly declining health during the social experiment didn’t scare Gorske off the Big Mac, which has roughly 550 calories. He has claimed in the past that his cholesterol and blood pressure are both normal, despite his burger habit.

Friends and family have also brought him Big Macs from other countries, which he ate despite the lack of refrigeration.

In the past 50 years, he has only gone eight days without his beloved burger.

In 1982, he drove through a snowstorm to get his favorite meal, only to discover that McDonald’s was closed. Gorske also refrained from eating one on the day his mother died, as a way to honor her.

‘They’re that good to me,’ he told WBAY of the fast-food burger. ‘There’s really nothing else I’d rather eat’

He has two display cases dedicated to his accomplishment: one holds approximately 50 iterations of the Big Mac container, while the other contains the calendar he first used to keep track of his burger consumption.

‘The advice I’d give someone who would like to challenge my record title is “don’t.” I’ll be dead before you could even challenge it,’ he told Guinness World Records.

‘I’m blessed with a high metabolism and good health which allow me to eat Big Macs without gaining a lot of weight,’ he added. ‘I might be the only person alive who could eat Big Macs every day without ill effects for 50 years.’

Gorske plans on eating Big Macs until the day he dies.

‘If I go for 40,000, that’ll take me another 14 years or whatever like that,’ he told WBAY in 2018. ‘I don’t think people celebrate 35,000 at all, so we’re probably looking at 14 more years down the road, and I’ll be 78 years old then!

‘So we’ll have to see how I’m doing then, you know?’

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