120-Pound Woman Sets Speed Record Eating 72-Ounce Steak

At first look you wouldn’t expect Molly Schuyler, a 120-pound mother of four, to finish off a 72-ounce steak at all, let alone in less than three minutes.

But as the cliché goes: Don’t judge a book by its cover.

Schuyler took the 72-ounce steak challenge at Sayler’s Old Country Kitchen in Portland, Ore. The challenge dates back to 1948. Sayler’s rules are fairly straightforward: You are served the steak, which can’t be cooked over medium rare, along with all of the fixings and a salad. If you can eat everything in an hour, without leaving your seat, you get the $65 meal for free.

In addition to eating on the house, Schuyler shattered the world record for eating a 72-ounce steak by four minutes. She becomes the 11th woman of over 1,500 people who attempted the feat.

Even more surprising: the steak didn’t completely satisfy the 34 year-old’s appetite. Schuyler ate a burger about an hour after finishing the challenge.

“I was just born that way,” the Omaha, Neb., woman said to KPTV in Portland of her eating skills. “I started doing this about a year ago, and I guess it's like a stupid human trick.”

Her unique talent scored her $650 last week in a separate competition during which she took down a 12-pound sandwich in 54 minutes. In a YouTube video three weeks earlier, Schuyler polished off nine pounds of cottage cheese in less than two minutes.

Last September, Schuyler earned high praise from All Pro Eating, which bills itself as “the world’s only Independent Competitive Eating organization.” The group named her “the World’s #1 Ranked Female Independent Competitive Eater.” In the press release, All Pro Eating notes that Schuyler ate nine pounds of fried mushrooms in eight minutes, eight beef patties in under two minutes, and seven bun and cheese sandwiches in a minute and a half. She won all three competitions.