Fond du Lac, Wisconsin - Don Gorske has done a lot with his life, but few things compare to his love and admiration of the humble Big Mac. But how many burgers does it take to set such a remarkable world record?

Don has devoted his heart, life, and health to his love of McDonald's Big Macs, the most iconic of American burgers.

So who is Don Gorske, and why is he so obsessed with the Big Mac that he has managed to hold the world record for the most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime?

This is the story of a true American legend, and it's one worth remembering!

Donald Gorske, a 70-year-old man from Fond du Lac in Wisconsin, holds the world record for most Big Macs eaten in a lifetime. Originally awarded the record in 1999, he recently extended his record after consuming a whopping 728 Big Macs in 2023 alone with the total number at a whopping 34,128!

A retired corrections officer, Gorske has been obsessed with the multi-layered burger since he ate his first one way back on May 17, 1972, more than 50 years ago. He describes the moment as life-changing, telling Guinness World Records, "In that moment, I said: ‘I’m going to probably eat these for the rest of my life.’ I threw the cartons in the back seat and started counting them from day one."

Since that day, Don Gorske hasn't eaten a single Big Mac without recording its consumption in a tally that has lasted more than half a century. He has been doing it so long, in fact, that his Big Mac consumption has lasted for nearly the entire lifetime of the salty snack itself, which was first introduced in 1967.

While his original obsession was far more intense – Gorske would regularly eat nine or more every day – he usually sticks to two Big Macs each day, one for lunch and one for dinner. It is, shockingly, pretty much the only thing that he eats as he generally skips breakfast and will only have a few smaller snacks throughout the day to fill his belly.

To make sure that he doesn't suffer from too many health issues, he walks six miles every day and avoids eating fries with his burger. Despite trying other foods, Gorske can't bring himself to let go of the Big Mac, saying, "When I like something, I stick with it all the time."

"Out of respect to my mother, from 1973 to 1981 I ate one non-Big Mac meal a day because she was worried about my health. On April 1, 1981 she let me relinquish that promise when she said, 'If they haven’t killed you by now, go ahead.'"

In 2020, Joey Chestnut set the record for most Big Macs eaten in one setting when he consumed 32 in 38 minutes. As a result, he is also considered the world record holder for most Big Macs eaten in an hour. His achievement managed to beat Matt Stonie's 2015 record, which sat at 25 Big Macs consumed.

The feat was recorded in a YouTube video that has amassed 9.9 million views in the three years since it was posted. Chestnut himself has nearly 300K followers on the social media platform where he posts videos in which he, a competitive eater, consumes large amounts of food.

In the caption he wrote for his Big Mac video, Chestnut explains that he has always dreamt of eating this many Big Macs. Since he was a little kid, he explains, "They would sell two Big Macs for $4 and me and my grandpa would get four of them. I'd end up eating three."

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"Since being a kid, I've dreamt about eating as many Big Macs as I could. As the ultimate cheat day event, I ordered 32 Big Mac sandwiches from Uber Eats and recorded the experience."

The humble Big Mac is one of the most iconic culinary inventions of the 20th Century and has never failed to sit at the top of the McDonald's menu hierarchy. With two patties, three pieces of bread, lots of cheese, and plentiful veggies, the double-stacked burger revolutionized what many consider to be possible in the world of fast food – even if nowadays it is not quite as popular as it once was!

Introduced in 1967 in Pittsburgh, McDonald's Big Macs spread across the United States the following year. The Big Mac is one of the fast food giant's flagship products and became hugely popular due to its tasty famous "special sauce," its stacked design, and the fact that it comes with two beef patties.

To Don Gorske, though, the Big Mac is about more than just the sum of its parts. He's been enraptured by the sandwich since the day that he tried his first Big Mac, and this record-holder has been lovin' it ever since.