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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Entertainment
James Holt

Woman flew 4,000 miles to take on Slattery's Chocolate Challenge - and absolutely crushed it

For most, a plate stacked with chocolate upon chocolate, a tray loaded with three kilos of chicken or a whopping 14-inch donut would be, to say the least, completely unmanageable. But for one YouTube sensation, defeating such gigantic portions of food is rather run of the mill.

Viral star Katina Eats Kilos does just that. Each week the 5ft 2ins YouTuber films herself battling unfathomable sized portions, almost always managing to scoff them within a matter of minutes, before sharing her victories with her 500,000 subscribers.

From two-foot-long loaded hot dogs, three kilos of ice cream sundaes and a 36-inch meaty burrito, Katina, from Washington, USA, really has mastered the art of cleaning up every crumb. And, believe it or not, her experience in bodybuilding means she knows exactly how to stay in shape whilst doing it.

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The YouTube star, who boasts more than 82 million video views online and 77k followers on Instagram, recently flew 4,000 miles from her home to the UK, determined to try some of the most popular - and difficult - food challenges overseas.

As part of her travels, which involved stopping off in the likes of Ireland, Nottingham, Liverpool, Shrewsbury and Lincolnshire, Katina, 31, couldn't resist filming a trip to Manchester's very own Wonka factory - Slattery's in Whitefield.

Katina doubled up on the Slattery's Chocolate Challenge (KatinaEatsKilos/Instagram)

The popular family chocolatier, patisserie and restaurant offers 'The Chocolate Challenge', consisting of a large portion of American-style fudge cake, served warm with a portion of homemade chocolate ice cream, a portion of fresh cream and two chocolate pots filled with liquid chocolate sauce, and a glass of hot chocolate.

To the surprise of her fans, Katina decided to double up on the calorific treat, which defeated more than 10,000 others, eating two portions worth - chomping the lot in an impressive 25 minutes and 19 seconds in a video watched nearly a million times.

Speaking exclusively to the Manchester Evening News from her home in Washington, Katina said: "This last summer was my very first time in the UK and that was my first experience in Manchester. The night before we just kind of went out and had some fun.

"We went to a pub, or two, and it rained, of course. I had planned to do the Slattery's challenge because I had heard a lot of things about it. It is one of the more popular food challenges and it's kind of really like Wonka's chocolate factory, as you can watch them make the chocolate.

"I actually walked in and was only going to do the single portion. Then the waitress came up and asked me, do you want to do two of these? And I kind of was like, how did she kind of know to ask me that? Because I hadn't pulled my camera out yet or have any of the gear set up.

"I was like, why not? Let's do two. I know it can be done. I've seen it be done before. I'm glad I did two of them because when it came out, it looked so spectacular. There were sparklers going off, two big piles of cakes and two big ice creams.

"I know a lot of people wanted to go to Slattery's after seeing that video, so that was really cool. Everyone was so nice there, they were cheering me on and super friendly."

Asked about her most challenging plate of food on her trip to the UK, Katina added: "There was one up in the Liverpool area that was a chicken and waffles challenge. And that one was quite the struggle.

"I think I just had a couple of minutes left on the clock to finish. I believe it was about three and a half kilos of chicken, then waffles, and syrups on the side. It was a lot of food." She also told about a trip to Cork in Ireland, which involved her wolfing down a 'mega burger' that was 'bigger than I was'.

For Katina, who is 5ft 2ins tall, there is no denying that consuming upwards of 6,000 calories in one sitting could be disastrous without the correct management and a disciplined routine. Explaining how she keeps slim, she continued: "I'm a rather short person, I'm five foot two. I'm only really able to do one or two challenges per week in order to maintain my weight.

"How I typically like to structure it is that I like to set a calorie goal per week and try and stay below that so everything kind of averages out. So, say I do a 6,000 calorie food challenge on a Tuesday, maybe the next day only eat a thousand calories of healthy vegetables and do a lot of walking and working out then maybe the next day, I just eat lightly at 1,500 calories, and then I have to film again.

"Way back in April of 2019, I was competing in a bodybuilding show and leading up to that, I was on like a really hardcore diet. I was watching other people on YouTube doing food challenges of filing 'cheat days' and I thought - I kind of think I could do that.

"So, after the bodybuilding show, I needed to put on some weight and get a little bit bigger. I decided to grab a cheap camcorder and went and tried my very first food challenge. It was super duper easy for me. I remember I even wanted desert afterwards!"

Katina will be jetting to Honolulu and Australia over the coming months as part of her travels, and will be filming yet more challenges in cities across the globe. It is her huge following, and growing, that means she often gets stopped in the street by fans.

"Somebody random will come up and say 'hi, we watch you all the time'. That's kind of cool, just to put faces behind the numbers," she said. "When you get to finally meet those people in person, that's really when it sinks in. It's really cool that me being kind of silly and going out and eating a lot of food is entertaining people and bringing joy to families and individuals across the globe.

"I feel like people in the UK are really honest and straightforward too. There's no beating around the bush like they will tell you things as is and not sugar-coated. So that's really nice. That's refreshing."

You can follow Katina on her food-munching journey on her Instagram @KatinaEatsKilos and Youtube page, which has half a million subscribers.

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