Professional eater polishes off 8-pound pizza in 45 minutes

LOUISVILLE, Ky., April 7 (UPI) -- A professional eater took on a Kentucky restaurant's 8-pound pizza challenge and downed the pie in only 45 minutes.

Randy Santel, a professional eater and owner of foodchallenges.com, traveled visited Wicks Pizza in Louisville Wednesday to tackle the Big Wick Challenge -- eating a 16-inch, 8-pound pizza in an hour or less.

The pizza would have cost $35 if he failed the time challenge, but Santel polished off the pizza in only 45 minutes, earning him $150 cash, a T-shirt and a spot as the sixth person on the eatery's wall to complete the challenge.

Santel said the big pizza was his 367th completed food challenge. He started doing the challenges in 2010, when he and a friend finished a 28-pound pizza to win $500 in St. Louis.