«
Well, I'm going to disappoint you, I'll stop there." His mouth still full, his rest of "gigatacos" in his hands, YouTuber Alan FoodChallenge capitulates. "The end of a myth," mocks one user. In a few years, the videographer had built his notoriety on his videos of "mukbang" - a trend from South Korea - where he swallowed impressive amounts of food: 50 donuts, 50 burgers, 150 yakitori skewers ... This Sunday, July 9, live on the Twitch platform, he is forced to declare forfeit after a "gigatacos" and a half. A month ago, however, he filmed himself swallowing five, or ten kilos... according to him.
Doubt hovered over the 31-year-old YouTuber, accused by a colleague, Theo Malini, of faking his videos viewed by hundreds of thousands of Internet users. He claims that Alan FoodChallenge makes "cuts" during editing to erase the moments when he spits out every bite rather than swallowing them. These frantic cuts are common in the Youtube style, used by videographers to punctuate their videos, but in the case of the "mukbang", they cast doubt on the actual consumption of the food presented. "It's been dozens of videos that we no longer see Alan FoodChallenge swallowing something," accuses Theo Malini.
Alan FoodChallenge acknowledges three fake videos
The youtuber then demonstrates, in a video, how he can easily pretend to eat a brioche of which he has not actually swallowed a bite, thanks to the magic of editing. And to point out that Alan FoodChallenge seems to swallow much less spectacular quantities when he performs his challenges in public. On the other videos, no clock is visible continuously to prove that nothing is cut. Internet users have also noticed that, in a video still online, the videographer can be briefly seen spitting his bite into a colander hidden behind the table.
In response to the accusations, Alan FoodChallenge admits to having faked a video and gives appointment on Twitch for a live challenge, where he promises to swallow as many "gigatacos" as in video. In vain.
Before capitulating live, he also admitted to having faked "three" videos "out of 450": tacos eaten over two days, a product placement to achieve despite a health problem, a poorly thawed kebab ... Eat the ten kilos that these five "gigatacos" represent? "Impossible to do," he admits, before announcing stop the "challenge videos". "It's not that I can't do it anymore, I don't like it anymore.
»At 31 years old, Alan FoodChallenge explains digesting less, having a "slower metabolism" that would no longer allow him to repeat his youthful exploits. "You start gaining weight easily, pimples..." The live, however, ended badly for the youtuber, whose phone number had been disclosed, and who found himself harassed with phone calls.