Featured Image Credit: Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo/Letterman/YouTube
Topics: Celebrity, WWE, TV and Film
Tom Wood
Andre the Giant once stuck away a frankly ridiculous amount of beer in one evening, even for a man of his considerable size.
Even if you were born long after his death in 1993, you’ve probably heard of Andre the Giant.
He was one of the world’s greatest professional wrestlers, as well as being immortalised within the fashion and art world through Obey and Shepard Fairey, but he was also a prolific beer drinker if this story is to be believed.
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Andre, real name André René Roussimoff, also starred in movies, as well as being immortalised in video games after his death.
However, there’s one story that keeps getting told about the wrestler, who clocked in at well over seven feet tall and weighed a reported 520 pounds.
We’re here to fill you in, in case you haven’t heard it.
The 35-stone Frenchman allegedly once drank 108 beers in 45 minutes, on his way to drinking 117 in a night overall.
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Not bad going, even if you are a seven foot four man nicknamed ‘The Eighth Wonder of the World’.
His legendary drinking habits have been revealed over the years by those who witnessed the feats, including fellow former WWE superstar Hulk Hogan.
He said: “I get a call [from Andre]. ‘Hey, boss, I’m at the Tampa airport. I’ve got a one-hour layover.’
"I was like OK, it’s 15 minutes or so from my mom’s house. So I drive over the airport and I met him at the Delta Crown Lounge.
"By the time we sat down, we had about 45 minutes before he had to walk to the next gate. He drank 108 12-ounce (350ml) beers.”
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Even weirder than that, apparently nobody could even tell that he’d consumed the beers.
WWE backstage producer Gerald Brisco continued the legend, explaining: “There are a lot of crazy stories about Andre that sound fake but most are true, especially his drinking.
"Andre used to ask me to get him six bottles of Mateus wine and ice them down.
"He would drink those before we went to the ring and no one could tell.
“One night in Sarasota, Andre is travelling with us. So we pull over and get two cases of tall boys.
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"By the time we get from Sarasota to the Tahitian Inn on Dale Mabry, the two cases were bone dry."
Then there’s the drink that Andre consumed on the set of the film The Princess Bride, where he and co-star Cary Elwes allegedly racked up a £33,000 bar tab.
It was called ‘The American’ - a heady mix of strong liquor - and didn’t taste great, as Elwes recounted: "I’ve never tasted airplane fuel.
"But I imagine it’s very close to what that must taste like. It’s very potent indeed, and I remember coughing a lot. But to him, it was like chugging water."
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Speaking on David Letterman’s talk show in the 1980s, Andre was asked whether it was true he’d drank 117 in one night, and responded: “Yes, one night.”
In the end, some attributed Andre’s drinking as a partial cause of his death, as he died of congestive heart failure at the age of 46.
Still, his legendary exploits - way beyond just the drinking - left a permanent mark on those who knew him and saw him during his career.