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Food

We Spoke to the Model Who Smashed a Burrito Eating Challenge

Former Miss Earth New Zealand winner Nela Zisser shocked the internet this week when a video emerged of her demolishing a 5 lb burrito in less than five minutes. Her secret? Endurance and technique.

Nela Zisser is a model and the former winner of Miss Earth New Zealand, but you probably know her from a recent viral video, in which she seemingly shuts down her gag reflex to cram pound after pound of burrito down her throat.

In case you haven't seen it, let me paint a wordy picture: slim attractive woman, 5 lb burrito, and some very very fast eating.

The real highlight of the video, which was filmed as the 22-year-old model took part in a challenge set by New Zealand's Mad Mex restaurant chain, comes in the last few minutes. The burrito starts to fall apart but, being the total pro she is, Zisser mashes the collapsing mess into a handy bite-sized ball, crams it in, swallows, and shows us the inside of her empty mouth before daintily wiping her chin on a napkin. Five lbs of rice, refried beans, cheese, and guacamole is gone in under five minutes. It's like watching a boa constrictor consume a piglet.

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Zisser has won a number of other competitive eating contests, almost always against all-male competition. On her YouTube channel, you can see her race grown men to eat an entire McDonald's Family Box and finish a gigantic burger in one minute 18 seconds.

The comments range from support and amazement to the predictable jibes of "disgusting" and "fat fuck." Then there are the hundreds of men with such erudite things to say as: "SHE CAN EAT MY COCK" and "I wanna wife her so bad."

We spoke to Zisser about why she does competitive eating and why it freaks people out so much to see her take on the guys.

MUNCHIES: Hi Nela, so what got you into competitive eating? Nela Zisser: I started on New Year's eve of 2013 when I qualified for the 2014 Sal's NY Pizza annual eating contest. My mother actually told me to enter as a joke and then I ended up getting through to the finals and beating 19 grown men.

Is it mostly men that compete, then? I've only ever been up against one other woman in a burger eating competition, I'd love to see more girls get into the sport. There's no men and women divide, everyone's judged and treated equally which is something I'm super supportive of.

You keep calling competitive eating a "sport." Do people at the competitions take it really seriously or is it mostly just for fun? Most people take it pretty seriously, but like any sport you still need to have fun.

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Do the competitions have prizes or do you just do it for the glory of the win? A lot of the competitions have prizes, it depends who's sponsoring it and how big the competition is. The most I ever won was $1500 in the first Sal's NY Pizza contest.

So, how the hell do you do it? I watched you eating that burrito and didn't think it was physically possible. What tricks are there for eating that much? You want to drink a lot of water the previous day and eat a decent amount of food, then on the day, you want to eat nothing until the contest.

What would you say to people who think models all starve themselves to stay skinny? I think that's a silly stereotype, most of the models I've worked with have eaten lots. There's always a decent amount of food backstage at fashion shows and photoshoots.

What about people who think competitive eating is gross? I don't think it is but each to their own. Because I see competitive eating as a sport, I think you have to be fit to be good at it. You can't be lazy or just someone who loves food. You have to be in good shape physically and mentally to win contests as it's mostly about technique and endurance.

Do you do it as a comment on body image or is that reading too much into it? I take part in it because I love it. I love meeting all the awesome people who compete and I've made so many friends in the last couple of years doing this. In saying that, I do want to make a point that you can enjoy food without being unhealthy. I eat healthy most of the time and keep fit but I also let myself eat what I like, it's all about balance and taking care of yourself mentally and physically.

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Some of the comments on your YouTube channel are pretty vicious, do these bother you? I guess doing Miss Earth prepared me for that because it doesn't bother me anymore. I know people only say bad things about others when they're unhappy with themselves so I just feel bad for them. I do read some of the comments and only take the good ones to heart, there are a lot of really awesome people out there who support me which is what counts!

READ MORE: This Is Why Your Boyfriend Eats Faster Than You

Are they—let's just say men—at the competitions still surprised to see you win? They're always shocked unless they've seen me compete before, then they'll come up to me and tell me their money's on me!

So the UK isn't that well known for eating challenges, but there's this place in Croydon that does a burger called "The Beast." It weighs 15 lbs, reckon you could take it on? I reckon I could take it on! In New Zealand we don't have many challenges either. I've been offered a trip to America next February to compete in the Wing Bowl challenge though.

Good luck with it and thanks for talking with us, Nela!