mmg.com.au

A stack of 80 pancakes should intimidate anyone, but Hungry Haydo had the yummy treats in his guts in just under 18 minutes flat.

It was just one in a long line of food challenges for former Shepparton resident Hayden Wilson, who has raised almost $17,000 for prostate cancer research since he began eating dishes that would leave many others defeated.

On February 9 at the Pancake Parlour in Melbourne Central, he set a record for the most pancakes eaten, downing 80 in just 17 minutes and 46 seconds.

That’s 2.5kg of pancakes, if you’re wondering.

The pancakes were supplied by Pancake Parlour to mark celebrations for Shrove Tuesday.

Hayden’s food challenge journey began when he was set a challenge by a mate.

‘‘Someone challenged me to eat a heap of Weet-Bix, and I’m pretty competitive so I was like, ‘whatever, I can eat more than you’,’’ he said.

A video of the eat-off was posted online and the food challenges have evolved from there.

Hayden said he chose to raise funds for prostate cancer because family members had died from the disease.

‘‘Most of my audience is male – girls always think it’s gross, but then I tell them it’s for charity and they’re like, ‘awwwww’,’’ he said.

Aside from the occasional food challenge, Hayden leads a healthy lifestyle and is the brand manager for Doherty’s Gym in Brunswick. He was nominated as the 2012 Rookie Runner-Up of the Year at www.eatfeats.com and the only dish that has ever beaten him was a hot burrito with sauce made from some of the hottest chillis in the world – he lost that challenge by one second.

‘‘It doesn’t feel too bad afterwards – it depends on how full I am,’’ he said.

‘‘On the weekend I was about 95 per cent full by the end of it, so it wasn’t too bad at all. There’s been times when I haven’t been able to walk afterwards.

‘‘The biggest challenge I’ve done is the triple parmagiana at the Albion Hotel in North Melbourne – they’d stopped making it but they did one just for me.

‘‘It was a platter with three parmas twice the size of normal parmas, with all these chips and salads. That was a hard one.’’

For more on Hungry Haydo, check out his Facebook page. You can donate to his cause by going to www.everydayhero.com.au/hungryhaydo.