A 22-year-old McMaster University student who won a month-long bet to eat 450 hot dogs says he's happy it's over.
"We didn't really celebrate," Jim Harrison said by phone from Hamilton, a day after he hit his lofty target. "Everyone was pretty tired. It's been a long month."
Since April 1, Harrison had been chowing down on hot dogs in an effort to win a $1,500 bet with his friend and roommate Colin Moffatt.
If he had lost the bet, Harrison would have had to pay Moffat $1,000.
It all started when he and a friend found themselves with a fortuitous windfall of cash, courtesy of online poker winnings.
One joked that the other should spend his poker money on hot dogs.
Then they began to speculate on how many hot dogs a person could eat in a month.
Next the conversation turned to more concrete numbers, as they began debating how many hot dogs Harrison could eat in a month and how much cash would be involved.
Earlier in the month, Harrison said he was eating six hot dogs per meal, three times a day. Still, he wasn't quite on pace to win, and had to plough through 48 hot dogs during the final two days of the month.
On Friday night, he returned to the restaurant where the bet had begun, to buy the last hot dog he needed.
"The waitress there bought it for me because we're friends," he said. "I eat there a lot."
"She said if I made it that far she'd buy me my last hot dog."
With less than an hour until midnight, Harrison retuned to his apartment. After some stomach trouble halfway through, he was able to eat all of the final hot dog.
The moment was captured by webcam and the video was posted online (as with every hot dog he ate during the month). Harrison then filmed his roommate presenting him with his $1,500 reward.
He went to sleep hungry about two hours later, freed from the pressures of eating.
"During the month, if I was hungry at all I pretty much had to go make hot dogs," he said. "So it's nice that I could just be lazy and lie in my bed."
Harrison estimates he spent about $400 on hot dogs and buns.
He also gained about five pounds, he said. It's the first time he has put on weight in five years. And he'll likely visit a doctor for a check-up.
Among other things, the bet has taught him that he can eat more than he thought.
"Generally I would eat, on average, two meals a day. And they would both be fast food," he said. "But over the last month I've had to eat as much as I can, whenever I can."
"Maybe this expanded my stomach. Or maybe it was already like that and I didn't know."
Harrison said he doesn't have any firm plans for the money yet. He needs a new computer, but would like to spend the money travelling.
Although the bet has soured him on plain hot dogs, he'll likely be eating them again next week, he said, at a barbeque for his brother's birthday.
