Fitness model left in 10-hour ‘food coma’ after gobbling down 24 cottage pies

A man who ate 24 cottage pies in 40 minutes in a bid to win a food challenge said he fell into a 10-hour food coma straight after.

Joel Hansen, a former fitness model from Canada, flew to the UK where he attempted to beat a series of monster food challenges at Cattlemans Steakhouse at The Parkers Arms in Paignton, Devon. The 28-year-old left staff at the pub speechless after requesting double the amount of food required in the famous cottage pie challenge.

It meant he was left shovelling down nine kilograms of the comfort meal – equivalent to 24 regular portions. The huge dishes amounted to roughly 11,000 calories, with 6kg of beef, 2kg of potatoes, 600g of peas and 600g of carrots, plus four pieces of garlic bread.

Video footage captured Joel in action as the Joel quickly gobbled up the feast, with the first pie disappearing within eight minutes and 30 seconds. With just under 20 minutes left of the hour-long challenge, Joel was seen struggling through the second pie to finish on time.

Cattlemans Steakhouse owner Gary King, 58, hailed Joel “superhuman” as he didn’t think it would be possible for anyone to eat so much food. The 28-year-old admitted he felt “horribly full” afterwards, and despite initially struggling to drift off that evening, eventually fell into an epic 10-hour kip to fully digest it.

Joel, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, said: “It took me a while to fall asleep afterwards but once I did I probably slept for 10 hours. I still feel pretty out of it. It was quite a feat because physically and mentally I had to push myself to eat it.

“I didn’t think I’d finish two of them but the second was there so I figured I’d try it. The first one went down really easy as it was nice and moist but after consuming 5kg of food the second one was much harder. You can only eat so much. I felt horrible after it and completely full. It’s not something I’d recommend anybody trying. I felt superhuman afterwards but no, I’m only human.”

Joel regularly tackles belly-busting challenges on his self-titled YouTube channel and arrived in England to tackle some of his favourites. He received 11,000 live views on TikTok, with more than 260,000 watching it since. Gary said: “He wanted to do something different but I didn’t think it would be humanly possible. It took him five to 10 minutes to finish the last six-eight spoonfuls so he struggled but it was two monster cottage pies and that’s 24 regular portions. He was fit to burst but he did it.”

Cattlemans Steakhouse plans for Joel to take on more challenges later this week and will be streaming them live on its TikTok account. A Facebook post following the challenge read: “Tonight Joel Hansen – Model Vs Food completed two cottage pie challenges. He finished first in eight minutes 25 seconds. He completed both in 40 minutes 51 seconds and that’s 17.6lbs of cottage pie. This man is not human.”

One user commented: “Where does he put it? Honestly that’s crazy!” A second said: “This was insane. It was like watching magic.” A third joked: “I feel for the toilet after that.”

The Monster Cottage Pie Challenge contains 6kg beef (7,775 calories), 2kg potatoes (1,648 calories), 600g peas (486 calories), 600g honey-roasted carrots (700 calories), and four garlic bread pieces (800 calories).