Eric Booker facts for kids

Booker at the 2010 Nathan's Hot Dog Contest
Quick facts for kids Personal information
Nickname(s)	BadlandsChugs, Badlands Booker
Born	(1969-06-21) June 21, 1969 (age 56) Queens, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Competitive eater
Years active	1997–present
Height	6 feet 5 inches
Weight	400 pounds
Spouse(s)	Regina Booker
YouTube information
Years active	2012–present
Subscribers	3.6 million
Total views	413 million
Network	Fox/FS1
Subscriber and view counts updated as of March 12, 2024.

Eric James "Badlands" Booker (born June 21, 1969) is a famous American competitive eater, rapper, and YouTuber. He is also known by his online name BadlandsChugs.

Eric Booker holds seven world records recognized by Major League Eating. He also has three Guinness World Records. He is a four-time champion of the Nathan's Lemonade Chugging Contest. From 1997 to 2018, he competed in the Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest every year.

About Eric Booker

Eric Booker started training for competitive eating when he was about 20 years old. He lives on Long Island. He is 6 feet 5 inches tall and weighs 400 pounds.

Competitive Eating Career

Booker trains for competitions by trying to stretch his stomach. He also works to make his jaw muscles stronger. He eats large amounts of fruits and vegetables. He drinks gallons of water while sitting down to stretch his stomach. To build jaw strength, he chews more than 20 pieces of gum at once.

He believes competitive eating is a healthy sport. He has even lost weight since he started competing. As of 2022, he is ranked 27th by the IFOCE.

Booker is also very popular on his YouTube channel, BadlandsChugs. On his channel, he mostly does soda chugging challenges. These include drinks like Mountain Dew, Sprite, Gatorade, and milk. In 2019, his YouTube channel gained over 3 million subscribers in one year.

At the 2021 Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, Booker won a lemonade drinking contest. He drank one gallon of lemonade in less than 40 seconds. He won his second lemonade chugging title in 2022. He won again in 2023, setting a record of 23.08 seconds. In 2024, he continued his winning streak. He broke his 2023 record with a time of 21 seconds. For the 2025 contest, Booker drank a gallon and a half of lemonade.

Competitive Eating Achievements

Here are some of Eric Booker's impressive achievements:

• Burritos: 15 BurritoVille burritos in 8 minutes.
• Candy bars: Two pounds of chocolate candy bars in 6 minutes.
• Cannoli: 16.5 cannoli in six minutes in 2004.
• Corned Beef Hash: 4 pounds of hash in 1 minute 58 seconds.
• Cheesecake (Mini): 50 Mini-Cheesecakes in 6 minutes.
• Doughnuts: 49 glazed doughnuts in 8 minutes.
• Hamentaschen: 50 Hamentaschen in 6 minutes.
• Matzo Ball (Ben's Deli): 21 baseball-sized (half-pound) matzo balls in 5 minutes, 25 seconds in 2003.
• Matzo Balls (Ruthie & Gussie's): 30 matzo balls in 5 minutes, 25 seconds.
• Raw Onions: 8.5 ounces of Maui Onions (three onions) in 1 minute on August 8, 2004.
• Peas: 9.5 one-pound bowls in 12 minutes.
• Pumpkin pies: 4 and 3/8 Entenmann's Pumpkin Pies in 12 minutes on November 22, 2004.
• Lemonade: Nathan's Famous chug contest, 1 gallon of lemonade in 21 seconds on July 4, 2024.
• In May 2021, he set a Guinness World Record. He drank two liters of soda in 18.45 seconds.
• In June 2022, he set two more Guinness World Records. He drank 1 liter of soda in 6.8 seconds. He also drank 1 liter of tomato sauce in 1 minute and 18 seconds.

Music Career

Since 2004, Eric Booker has made and performed hip-hop music. His songs are often about competitive eating. He performs songs from his albums at competitions. Besides his own nine albums, Booker has also appeared on albums by Jendor and Loser's Lounge. Much of the music on his YouTube channel is made by him and his son, Brandon Booker (OKHIPHOP).

See also

• List of competitive eaters