Noori Falls Well Short in Contest

It’s a good thing Michael Noori is a better poker player than eater. Otherwise he’d starve to death. Noori’s goal to consume $1,000 worth of McDonald’s food in 36 hours was a disaster. He was smart enough to throw in the towel a little more than halfway into the thing. His total food consumed came out to be $95 worth in 21 hours, which would be about $163 worth of food in 36 hours. Since he lost, he was also responsible for footing the bill of his food purchases.

But you have to give Noori credit. Not only did he and the World Poker Tour gain a ton of publicity, something good came out of it. The contest turned into a charity drive, with fellow poker player Phong “Turbo” Nguyen getting involved. Nguyen travels to Vietnam every Christmas to buy supplies, food and clothes to give to the needy. Noori turned the contest into a charity drive and Nguyen agreed to match Noori’s money dollar for dollar up to $20,000.

Noori began a GoFundMe page and raised nearly $12,500, which when doubled becomes close to $25,000. That’s certainly more important than bragging rights over an eating contest.

Few people expected the event to capture the imagination of so many people. But word spread through social media outlets and Noori’s eating attempt was big news. So big, that the actual eating took place in a house instead of at McDonald’s as was originally planned. Noori did go and make the first Mcdonald’s purchase completely decked out in a Hamburgler costume, which most likely drew some strange looks from the other customers. After all, it’s hot in Arizona in May and he’s wearing long sleeves and a cape?

There is no word if the Hamburgler has any other eating challenges planned in the near future. This first one will be hard to top, but it all worked out for the best in the end.