Booker at the 2010 Nathan's Hot Dog Contest
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | BadlandsChugs, Badlands Booker | |||||||||
| Born | Queens, New York, U.S. | |||||||||
| Occupation | Competitive eater | |||||||||
| Years active | 1997–present | |||||||||
| Height | 6 ft 5 in (196 cm) | |||||||||
| Weight | 400 lb (181 kg)[1] | |||||||||
| Spouse | Regina Booker | |||||||||
YouTube information | ||||||||||
| Channel | ||||||||||
| Years active | 2012–present | |||||||||
| Subscribers | 3.56 million[2] | |||||||||
| Total views | 398 million[2] | |||||||||
| Network | Fox/FS1 | |||||||||
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Last updated: March 12, 2024 | ||||||||||
Eric James "Badlands" Booker, also known by his online pseudonym BadlandsChugs, is an American competitive eater, rapper, and YouTuber. He holds seven Major League Eating recognized world records,[3] three Guinness World Records,[4] is a four-time Nathan's Lemonade Chugging Contest champion, and competed in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every year from 1997 to 2018.[5][6]
By 20, Booker began training his chug skills and training to compete in food championships. Booker lives on Long Island. Booker is 6 ft 5+1⁄4 in (1.96 m) tall and weighs 400 lb (180 kg).[1]
Booker trains for competitions by trying to stretch his stomach and develop jaw strength. He eats large amounts of fruit and vegetables and drinks gallons of water in a sitting position in order to stretch his stomach and chews over twenty pieces of gum at a time to build jaw strength.[7] He maintains that competitive eating is a healthy sport and has lost weight since he began competing.[8] As of 2022, he is ranked 27th by the IFOCE.[9] Booker is also known for his YouTube channel, BadlandsChugs, in which he primarily performs soda chugging challenges.[10] In 2019, over the span of a year, his YouTube channel amassed over 3 million subscribers.
At the 2021 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, Booker won a lemonade drinking contest, drinking a gallon of lemonade in under 40 seconds.[11] He captured his second lemonade chugging contest title in 2022,[12] and repeated in 2023, setting a record of 23.08 seconds.[13] In 2024, he continued his lemonade-chugging winning streak, breaking his 2023 record with a time of 21 seconds.[14]
Some of Booker's accomplishments include:
Since 2004, Booker has performed and recorded competitive eating themed hip-hop as Badlands Booker, and he frequently performs selections from his albums at competitions.[21][22][1] Besides his own nine albums, Booker has also made guest appearances on albums by Jendor and Loser's Lounge.[23] Much of the music used on his YouTube channel is created by himself and his son Brandon Booker (OKHIPHOP).
| Title | Year |
|---|---|
| Hungry & Focused | 2004 |
| Hungry & Focused II: The Ingestion Engine | 2005 |
| Hungry & Focused III: The Reframing | 2006 |
| Hungry & Focused IV: Fork, Knife & Mic | 2007 |
| Extended Play | 2009 |
| Surf & Stillwell | 2010 |
| Big Man Mentality | 2011 |
| Surf & Stillwell 2 | 2017 |
| Surf & Stillwell 3 | 2018 |
| Big Man Mentality 2 | 2019 |
