World No 3 competitive eater takes a bite out of Shepparton

Luckily for Mr Webb, pizza is his favourite food.

“This morning I woke up, went to the gym, drove here, and have not eaten. I had pre-workout. That’s it, I’m starving,” he said before digging in.

But competitive eating takes more than a big appetite, with Mr Webb training daily to prepare for challenges.

“I train my jaw, my stomach, my throat, my breathing,” he said.

His routine includes hitting the gym, using a rubber ball to strengthen his jaw and doing exercises to improve his breathing and stomach capacity.

“I’ve also got an asthma machine to help train my lungs,” he said.

“There’s a lot that goes into it. You don’t just turn up and smash, like, 200 chicken wings in five minutes.”

The Shepparton challenge, however, was a little more relaxed.

“This will be easy. This is not something I need to prep for,” he said.

The visit was about having fun rather than racing the clock, with Mr Webb keen to meet local fans and create content for his online audience.

“It’s so cool when you get to meet people, especially in a place like Shepparton,” he said.

“What the hell am I doing here, eating food? It’s mad.

“My life is random ... I love it.”

There are some sacrifices, though, including eating cold food for the camera.

“Cold food looks better on camera. So 99 per cent of the time, I’m eating cold food,” he said.

“I’m here to make a cool video for everyone involved, so you’ve got to take one for the team.”

And while his oversized fork and spoon have become part of his trademark look, they’re not quite the specialist equipment they appear to be.

“They’re actually salad servers, but people love it,” he said.

Pizza Place and Acai Dessert Bar owner Mohamed Fatelawi said he had been discussing bringing Mr Webb to Shepparton for about two years.

“He’s very well known in Australia and the US,” Mr Fatelawi said.

“To have a figure like this here is helping put Shepparton on the map.”

Mr Fatelawi said he hoped to host an eating competition in the future.

As for Mr Webb, the mountain of food was no small undertaking, even for one of the world’s best competitive eaters.

“I’m not eating tomorrow,” he said with a laugh.