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Michelle "Cardboard Shell" Lesco is a petite framed woman with a healthy appetite.
Ranked #9 in the world by the International Federation of Competitive Eaters (IFOCE) and Major League Eating (MLE), her ravenous appetite for eating competitions has landed her a feature in Guinness World Records 2020.
With a hearty total of three Guinness World Records titles, the math teacher from Arizona, USA has proven herself to be the ultimate foodie.
She champions titles for fastest time to eat a bowl of pasta (mmm, carbs!) at 26.69 seconds, fastest time to eat a hot dog with no hands at 21.60 seconds, and most mayonnaise eaten in three minutes at 2,448 g (86.35 oz) – which is the equivalent to 3.5 jars.
Michelle first got involved with speed-eating after her friends backed out of a challenge they were supposed to do together.
Her two male friends said no to eating a 12 patty, 12 slices of cheese, lettuce, tomato, and a burger – but Michelle tackled it without fear.
From that point on, she was hooked – and has been doing competition eating for good causes ever since.
In fact, her title for fastest time to eat a bowl of pasta was tied to the charity food drive "Carbs for a Cause", where she smashed the previous record by 14 seconds.
Many are surprised to learn that the 5' 4" record holder can down as much food as she does, but if you ask Michelle – she’ll say it's a misapprehension.
"The biggest misconception about competitive eating is that all of us are like 500 pounds and 10 feet tall. Back in the day when they first started these contests, they would pull people from the audience, and they picked people that they thought could eat the most – so I think that’s where it came from."
Michelle mentions her fast metabolism contributes to her ability to put down such large quantities of food, but a fair amount of "practice" goes into preparing her stomach for competitions which includes expanding her stomach capacity.
She will often eat the food she is about to competitively consume prior to any real-time attempts.
Want to see more impressive feats like Michelle's? Check out Guinness World Records 2020, available soon in a store near you!