A dad reckons he's ordered 'the UK's biggest burger' after demanding Burger King stack his bun with 36 beef patties for his birthday. Craig Harker wanted to celebrate his birthday in carnivorous style and chose to shun a sugary birthday cake and instead sink his teeth into the gut-busting 6,000-calorie meal.
The 36-year-old ordered a regular Burger King whopper meal and added an extra 35 patties - one to celebrate each year of his life - with a side of fries and washed down with Diet Coke. Footage shared on Facebook shows the pub owner casually ordering the monster £53.49 burger before being handed a bag so heavy he likened it to going to the gym.
When the dad-of-three unveiled the foot-high towering treat his eyes lit up and he sank his teeth into it. But the birthday boy's eyes proved to be bigger than his belly, and he was 'only' able to devour 12 of the £1.30 patties, before donating the rest to friends and family who live nearby.
Craig, from Hardwick, County Durham, said: "I think it's the biggest burger ever ordered at Burger King - a proper birthday treat. I think it's an absolute bargain for the size of the burger. If you went to a restaurant for that size burger, you'd be paying a lot more than what you're paying for the extra patties at Burger King.
"When they handed the burger over, it was almost like them handing the baton over at the Olympics in the relay. I had to be careful when taking the food, especially as it was so heavy. I stopped at 12 because my stomach was starting to look like the burger - it was absolutely huge and I thought if I forced any more down I was going to throw up.
"I got to the point where I thought 'right this is me done comfortably' without me popping a button off my pants. I have quite a big family and we all live locally so I offered the burgers out to everyone to put on their own buns and then any leftovers went to the dog so there was no waste."
Social media footage shows Craig ordering the mammoth meal at the Stockton-on-Tees branch of the store before carefully taking it off the server, unwrapping it and digging in. In the footage Craig says: "Because it's my birthday weekend, instead of a cake like any normal person would get.
"I'm not a normal person, I love meat, I'm an absolute carnivore [...] and you all know how I love fast food. I've come to Burger King [and] what I'm going to get is the biggest birthday burger you can possibly get your hands on."
After making the order and waiting for it to be flipped from the grill, Craig admits he's made a specific clothing choice to help tackle his meal. Craig said: "I've worn these jeans specially today because they're a little bit elasticated - they're like pregnancy pants for men."
In the clip, just before the server hands over the meal, another server can be heard shouting 'Diet Coke', to which Craig quips 'Diet Coke's for me, I'm watching the calories'.
Food-loving Craig, who runs food blog Dad Loves Food alongside owning The George Pub and Grill in his hometown, said he loves to let his followers in on food hacks. Craig said: "When I go out food blogging around the country one of the things that everyone's got on their doorstep is a national chain - whether that's a Burger King, McDonald's or a KFC.
"At Burger King you can add on as many patties as you want. On the app I think it only goes up to eight but I thought I'd risk it [at the store] and see how many I could go to.
"I'd done other smaller burgers so I knew not to get cheese on every layer because the burgers would then slide all over the place. It's definitely a contender for the biggest most commercially available burger, because there's a Burger King on everyone's door step.
"I personally haven't seen a bigger burger from a national or global chain. People could order that in any country where there's a Burger King."
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A Burger King spokesman said: "We always encourage customers to have it their way – whatever and however that may be. Thanks to Craig for choosing the Home of the Whopper to create his almighty birthday burger."
