Eric Booker
Eric James Booker, known professionally as Badlands Booker or BadlandsChugs, is an American competitive eater, rapper and YouTube personality. He holds seven Major League Eating recognized world records,[3] three Guinness World Records,[4] is a three-time Nathan's Lemonade Chugging Contest champion, and competed in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every year from 1997 to 2018.[5][6]
 Booker at the 2010 Nathan's Hot Dog Contest | ||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | BadlandsChugs, Badlands Booker | |||||||||
| Born | Queens, New York, U.S. | |||||||||
| Occupation | Competitive eater | |||||||||
| Years active | 1997–present | |||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) | |||||||||
| Weight | 400 lb (181 kg)[1] | |||||||||
| Spouse(s) | Regina Booker | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2012–present | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 3.51 million[2] | |||||||||
| Total views | 384 million[2] | |||||||||
| Network | Fox/FS1 | |||||||||
| ||||||||||
Last updated: October 14, 2023 | ||||||||||
Biography
By 20, Booker began training his chug skills and training to compete in food championships. Booker lives on Long Island. He is married to Regina Booker. Booker is 6 ft 5+1⁄4 in (1.96 m) tall and weighs 400 lb (180 kg).[1]
Competitive eating career
Booker trains for competitions by trying to stretch his stomach and develop jaw strength. He eats large amounts of fruit and vegetables and drinks gallons of water in a sitting position in order to stretch his stomach and chews over twenty pieces of gum at a time to build jaw strength.[7] He maintains that competitive eating is a healthy sport and has lost weight since he began competing.[8] As of 2022, he is ranked 27th by the IFOCE.[9] Booker is also known for his YouTube channel, BadlandsChugs, in which he primarily performs soda chugging challenges.[10] In 2019, over the span of a year, his YouTube channel amassed over 3 million subscribers.
At the 2021 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, Booker won a lemonade drinking contest, drinking a gallon of lemonade in under 40 seconds.[11] He captured his second lemonade chugging contest title in 2022,[12] and repeated in 2023, setting a record of 23.08 seconds.[13]
Accomplishments
Some of Booker's accomplishments include:
- Burritos: 15 Qdoba burritos/ 8 minutes[14]
- Candy bars: Two Pounds Chocolate Candy Bars / 6 minutes[14]
- Cannoli: 16.5 cannoli in six minutes / 2004[15]
- Corned Beef Hash: 4 pounds of hash / 1 minute 58 seconds[14]
- Cheesecake (Mini): 50 Mini-Cheesecakes / 6 minutes[15]
- Doughnuts: 49 glazed doughnuts / 8 minutes[14]
- Hamentaschen: 50 Hamentaschen / 6 minutes[14]
- Matzo Ball (Ben's Deli): 21 baseball-sized (half-pound) matzo balls / 5 minutes, 25 seconds / 2003[14][16]
- Matzo Balls (Ruthie & Gussie's): 30 matzo balls / 5 minutes, 25 seconds
- Raw Onions: 8.5 ounces Maui Onions (three onions)/ Whalers Village / 1 minute/ August 8, 2004[14]
- Peas: 9.5 one-pound bowls / 12 minutes [14]
- Pumpkin pies: 4+3⁄8 Entenmann's Pumpkin Pies / 12 Minutes/ November 22, 2004[14]
- Lemonade: Nathan's Famous chug contest / 1 gallon lemonade / 23.08 seconds / July 4, 2023[13]
- In May 2021, he set the Guinness World Record for the fastest time to drink two litres of soda (18.45 seconds).[17]
- In June 2022, he set two more Guinness World Records, drinking 1 liter of soda in 6.8 seconds and 1 liter of tomato juice in 1 minute and 18 seconds.[4]
Music career
Since 2004, Booker has performed and recorded competitive eating themed hip-hop as Badlands Booker, and he frequently performs selections from his albums at competitions.[18][19][1] Besides his own nine albums, Booker has also made guest appearances on albums by Jendor and Loser's Lounge.[20] Much of the music used on his YouTube channel is created by himself and his son Brandon Booker (OKHIPHOP).
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| Hungry & Focused | 2004 |
| Hungry & Focused II: The Ingestion Engine | 2005 |
| Hungry & Focused III: The Reframing | 2006 |
| Hungry & Focused IV: Fork, Knife & Mic | 2007 |
| Extended Play | 2009 |
| Surf & Stillwell | 2010 |
| Big Man Mentality | 2011 |
| Surf & Stillwell 2 | 2017 |
| Surf & Stillwell 3 | 2018 |
| Big Man Mentality 2 | 2019 |
See also
References
- "Eric "Badlands" Booker". majorleagueeating.com. Major League Eating. Archived from the original on April 21, 2021. Retrieved October 2, 2021.
- "About BadlandsChugs". YouTube.
- "Eric "Badlands" Booker". majorleagueeating.com. International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
- "YouTuber chugs litre of Mountain Dew in 6.8 sec to break record". Archived from the original on October 12, 2022. Retrieved October 12, 2022.
- Stein, Sam; Cherkis, Jason (July 2, 2015). "One Very Large Man's 18-Year Quest For Hot Dog Eating Glory". huffpost.netblogpro.com. BuzzFeed, Inc. Archived from the original on July 8, 2023. Retrieved July 8, 2022.
- "Results from The 2018 Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog-Eating Contest". majorleagueeating.com. Archived from the original on October 26, 2022. Retrieved October 26, 2022.
- "The Seattle Times: Food & wine: Eating champs to chow down at Everett wingding". Archived from the original on April 10, 2011. Retrieved February 27, 2010. Eating champs to chow down at Everett wingding by Brian Alexander
- Archived August 9, 2010, at the Wayback Machine The Totally Earnest Eater by Pat Gee
- "Rankings". majorleagueeating.com. Archived from the original on July 10, 2019. Retrieved July 21, 2019.
- "BadlandsChugs - YouTube". www.youtube.com. Archived from the original on October 30, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- "Eric 'Badlands' Booker wins inaugural Nathan's chug contest". ESPN. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved December 24, 2021.
- Darney, Caroline. "Eric "Badlands" Booker won the Nathan's lemonade chug and celebrated with a massive burp". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 13, 2023. Retrieved July 5, 2022.
- Chayes, Matthew (July 4, 2023). "Nathan's hot dog eating contest: Joey Chestnut wins again; Long Island's Eric 'Badlands' Booker sets lemonade-chugging record". Newsday. Associated Press. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved July 15, 2023.
- International Federation of Competitive Eating, Eater Profiles: Eric Booker. Copyright 2004. "International Federation of Competitive Eating - IFOCE". Archived from the original on December 26, 2008. Retrieved December 30, 2008.
- Amy's Robot (blog) Robot-on-the-Spot: The World Cheesecake Eating Championship. Archived November 18, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
- The Jewish Advocate; April 2005: by Nogg, Ozzie. Matzah ball-eating contest proves mother was right; Eric Booker cleans his plate, eats 21 matzah balls in five minutes.
- "Fastest time to drink two litres of soda". Archived from the original on September 9, 2021. Retrieved September 9, 2021.
- "CD Baby Music Store". store.cdbaby.com. Archived from the original on February 10, 2004. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- "Selden's 'Badlands' aims for Nathan's title". Newsday. Archived from the original on October 20, 2019. Retrieved October 20, 2019.
- "Badlands Booker". Spotify. November 6, 2020. Archived from the original on October 4, 2020. Retrieved November 6, 2020.
External links
