King of Donairs: Breaking his own record, man eats 24 of the Halifax delicacy in one sitting

HALIFAX -

Joel Hansen loves to push his body to the limits with a strict workout routine and competitive eating.

“Similar to if you want to be a marathon runner, you want to run a long-distance, you got to run, if you want to eat a lot of food, you got to eat," the professional eater explains.

"So a lot of training goes into it, believe it or not.”

In his most recent visit to Halifax, Hansen challenged himself to eat the most donairs ever in one sitting.

He wanted to break his previous unofficial world record of 19. which he completed in 2019.

“No one has ever eaten 24 King of Donairs or Halifax donairs, at all, of any donair in one sitting,” he says.

Nicholas Nahas owns King of Donair. On Tuesday night, he watched Hansen eat two dozen donairs at his Quinpool Road location – a new and impressive record.

"The amount of food he puts in, is not human," Nahas says.

"You know, I kind of thought since he was game on trying to break the record that he wouldn’t eat more than 19, but to go five over that, yeah, it was crazy.”

Like many, Nahas wonders how Hansen prepares for food challenges.

“I think exercise is very, very, important,” Hansen explains. “I try to be active every day whether it be going to the gym or going for a run. Diet is definitely … key, outside of these competitions, these videos, I eat very healthy. You know, fruits, vegetables, lean meats.”

On average, he’ll eat competitively about once a month, and he’s had the opportunity to travel around North America doing what he loves.

“If you’re going to have a Halifax donair, I decided to have 24 of them, I don’t recommend anyone ever try to eat that much,” he says. “But hey, when in Rome, and when in Halifax.”

And while Joel is arguably the King of Donairs, he isn’t done challenging himself with this Halifax delicacy.

He says he will be back to try and break his record.