10,000 calorie challenge: The YouTubers eating piles of food to impress their fans

YouTubers are challenging themselves to eat 10,000 calories in a single day in a bid to impress their fans - and the task is proving harder than it might seem.

As the name suggests, the challenge involves scoffing at least 10,000 calories in the space of a day, about 8,000 calories more than the recommended daily amount of 2,000 for women and 2,500 for men.

Searching the phrase on YouTube rakes up thousands of videos, and while each YouTuber has their own take on the challenge, most use it as a chance to gorge as much junk food as possible.

YouTuber Furious Pete, who has more than three million followers, ate 10,000 calories in one go by making giant pieces of French toast. In one sitting, he ate three loaves of brioche bread cooked in egg, full-fat milk and butter, topped with chocolate and peanut butter. And he looks understandably defeated by the end of the video.

Others take a slower approach. Rob Lipsett, who has more than 91,000 subscribers, told his fans that the 10,000 calorie challenge is a “YouTube rite of passage.�

In one day, he ate French toast, American pancakes, four cookies, a burger, fries, three pizzas, cheese, and a tub of ice cream. Undefeated by the mountain of food, he pledged to eat 20,000 calories if 20,000 users liked the video.

“I'm feeling fine. I could definitey eat more Ben and Jerry's,� he told fans at the end of the challenge.

As a person needs to eat around 3,500 extra calories to put on a pound of fat, the challenge will likely cause around 3lbs of weight gain and would take around 10 hours of intense training to burn off.

For professional athletes, high-calorie diets are part of the intense lifestyle. Britain’s Strongest Man Eddie Hall, who weighs 28.3 stone, recently revealed that he eats 10,000 a day.

At breakfast he eats two scoops of protein powder in a glass of full fat milk, a cup of green tea, porridge with jam, a banana, a bowl of yoghurt and a protein shake, the Telegraph reported.