Man Wins $3,000 After Demolishing 2.8kg Pho Challenge And Setting Record Time

Food challenges are certainly ramping up around the world and there is big money to be made in stuffing your stomach in the quickest possible time.

But you don't have to tell that to Sydney man Jesse Freeman, who just scored a nice $3,000 travel voucher for an incredible food-related accomplishment.

The 25-year-old beat out his competitors in stunning fashion to not only win the 2.8kg Pho challenge but also set a record at the District 8 restaurant. He managed to down all that food in three minutes and 54 seconds, which is more than a minute and a half quicker than last year's event.

Lordy, he put them to shame.

District 8

The man from Narrabeen sat next to nine other challengers, all hoping to eat their way to three grand.

When the gong was bashed to kick off the event, the competitors shovelled Pho into their mouths like it was their first meal in days.

Each tried to get as much noodle and meat combination so that they could just drink the remaining broth.

However, all their efforts were in vain after Jesse, who goes by the name Food Coma, took out the top prize.

District 8

"I was ecstatic, everyone was freaking out," he told the Fairfield Advance. "I just loved every bit of it.

"[At the finals] my first thought was to stay calm...keep an eye out on what other people are doing.

"I wanted to make sure I could get to the chewy stuff first and then move to the liquid part of the challenge. Then I saw other challengers using the bowl to scoop up the liquid."

Jesse and his nine competitors were the top 10 of around 150 people who tried to reach the Grand Final Pho challenge. That's a hell of a lot of Pho that's been consumed at this restaurant.

District 8

He's no stranger to completing tough food challenges, with his Instagram littered with photos of him preparing to eat outrageously delicious burgers.

"There's a lot of balance that comes into this stuff. I [competitive eat] about once a week or fortnight, and train six days a week," he said.

Jesse added that he came across competitive eating when he was trying intermittent fasting, where he would only eat for eight hours in the day.

He hasn't picked a travel destination just yet but no doubt he'll let his stomach digest all that noodle, meat and broth.

Topics: Food, Community, Australia

Stewart Perrie

Stewart Perrie is a Trending Journalist at LADbible. His first job was as a newsreader and journalist at the award winning Sydney radio station, Macquarie Radio. He was solely responsible for the content broadcast on multiple stations across Australia when the MH17, Germanwings and AirAsia disasters unfolded. Stewart has covered the conflict in Syria for LADbible, interviewing a doctor on the front line, and has contributed to the hugely successful UOKM8 campaign.

@stewartperrie