A competitive eater who attempted to consume 10kg of food on a livestream sadly died as her fans watched on in horror.
Pan Xiaoting, 24 passed away on July 14 as she attempted to shovel down the food on camera. An autopsy later found the former waitress’ stomach was left “deformed” and full of “undigested food,” TimesNow reports.
Known for her competitive eating sessions, Pan’s livestreams would often last for up to 10 hours and saw her eating around 10kg of food, despite warnings from her parents and loved-ones.
The influencer, from China, was taking part in a ‘Mukbang’, where hosts consume food on camera, often while interacting with fans in real time. But tragedy struck in what would become Pan’s final livestream.
Mukbang’s originated in South Korea in the mid-2000s and quickly became a global trend, particularly over the last decade.
According to China News, Pan was known for her lengthy Mukbang-style videos, and at one point, it had even emerged that the 24-year-old had previously been hospitalised for gastrointestinal bleeding. Despite this, she continued streaming.
Posting to social media, one person described her as “literally a victim of gluttony” as the tragic incident pointed to the dangers of extreme eating. Others questioned the need to perform such challenges. One said: “I’ll never understand why anyone would want to watch someone eat.”
Another added: “That’s terrible. Why do people try and glorify obesity these days?, while one wrote: “When you think that there are people dying of hunger… it’s maddening.”
China set regulations to curb excessive eating in Mukbang content in 2020, with some streamers facing fines if they violate the rules.
Elsewhere, competitive eating, also known as speed eating, is considered a sport which sees participants compete against each other to consume large quantities of food, usually in a set time period.
Contests usually last around eight to ten minutes, but some can be as long as thirty minutes, with the person consuming the most food being crowned the winner.
The challenges are most popular in the United States, Canada, and Japan, where professional eating contests often see winners going home with prizes, including cash.