Man eats 15lbs belly-busting burger

A chef has chomped his way through a burger weighing 15lbs in a marathon eating session.

Brad Sciullo, of Uniontown, is the first person to successfully eat the huge burger at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub, said pub owner Dennis Liegey.

He also chomped down 5.2lbs of toppings in the 4 hours and 39 minute marathon.

The burger - called the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser - includes a bun, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, mild banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish.

When asked what possessed him to eat a burger that big, Sciullo said: "I wanted to see if I could."

"I've always had a heck of a capacity and I can down about two gallons of water and I can do a gallon of milk in 20-some seconds," said Sciullo, a chef at Pasta Lorenzo's in Uniontown.

He said he realised when he had eaten through half the burger in a half-hour that he had plenty of time to finish it up.

"About three hours into it, things got tough," Sciullo said. "It's exhausting. I chewed for five straight hours. I didn't talk."

As is customary in such challenges, Sciullo was appointed a pub escort. Philip Fimon, a pub cook, stayed with Sciullo through the eating frenzy, even going with him to the restroom three times to make sure he didn't throw up, Liegey said.

For completing the challenge in the under-five-hour time limit, Sciullo won $400, three T-shirts, a certificate, "and a burger hangover, as I call it," Liegey said.