The size 8 woman who’s paid to eat junk food

Mimi Zhang is tiny but she smashed a record by eating an extreme amount of meat pies in just five minutes.

When Mimi Zhang was a little girl, people used to whisper about her behind her back.

Sometimes, it wasn’t even behind her back.

“She shouldn’t eat so much!” they’d admonish her mother. “She should eat more like a girl!”

Thankfully, Mimi’s mother took little notice, telling her daughter she should simply try to be exactly who she is at all times.

It’s a lesson Mimi brought with her, moving from China to Australia 10 years ago, and a lesson that still rings in her ears today – drowning out the criticisms of her childhood as she chews her way through Australia’s competitive eating scene, smashing records.

At five foot two, pint-sized Mimi “The Mini Monster” is Australia’s number one female competitive eater. She can eat 16 hotdogs in 10 minutes. She can polish off 200 dumplings in one sitting. And as the hosts of news.com.au’s I Swear I Never podcast discovered, she can eat a LOT of cupcakes.

Mimi Zhang has always had a big appetite.

Some people frown on how much Mimi can eat.

While Mimi has always been able to put away a lot of food, it wasn’t until 2019, when she spotted a poster for a pancake-eating competition on her lunch break, that Mimi ever considered turning her passion into a sport.

“I had already eaten lunch,” Mimi laughs, “but I was still hungry. I felt like something sweet, and then I thought – mmmm, pancakes!”

On a whim, she walked into the cafe, entered the competition and finished in second place. The winner, a seasoned competitive eater, told Mimi she had real talent and needed to start competing. Intrigued, the photographer and make-up artist followed his advice. A few weeks later, she didn’t just smash the female record for hotdog eating in Australia – she doubled it.

From then on, Mimi was hooked. She’s competed in hundreds of eating challenges since that day, made herself a decent amount in prize money, and built a successful Instagram following in the process.

In teh past, she’s had 16 hot dogs in 10 minutes, finished a two-kilo steak in 10 minutes and once ate 10 meat pies in five minutes.

Mimi’s small size makes the amount she is able to eat all the more impressive. Often competing against men twice her size, Mimi is able to outlast and outpace some truly daunting competitors – often consuming 15,000 calories in one sitting.

“I do one or two eating challenges a week,” Mimi says, “and the rest of the time I eat very clean – lots of protein, fresh fruit and vegetables. I also lift weights six times a week, for two or three hours a day.”

Mimi stays slim by working out and eating clean when she’s not competing.

At the suggestion that some competitors might not keep all of their food down after the competition ends, Mimi explains it is frowned upon in the industry – and she’s never thrown up from too much food.

“One time I came close – I drank six litres of milkshake. It was too, too sweet and I felt sick, but I didn’t vomit,” she says.

“Most of the followers are great, but as a woman you do get a lot of creepy DMs – mostly people asking me to take a photo of my belly after I’ve eaten a lot of food.”

Fetishes notwithstanding, social media has proven the perfect breeding ground for competitive eating ‘mouthletes’ like Mimi. And there’s serious money to be made.

The top earner, Takeru Kobayashi, is estimated to have a net worth of $3 million dollars. Joey Chestnut, who holds the world record for eating 76 hot dogs in 12 minutes, is estimated to be worth nearly $2 million. Unsurprisingly, Joey Chestnut is also Mimi’s hero.

“I wish I was able to eat 76 hot dogs in 10 minutes!” she says.

It’s a fascinating world. A lot of competitive eaters have literally millions of online fans. And once you start watching some of their challenges online, you fall into a kind of trance. In a world where most of us have been on a diet our whole lives, there’s something taboo – almost illicit – about watching someone slurp back 10 packets of mi goreng noodles, or work their way through 120 pieces of sushi. As for Mimi – she reckons its popularity is down to our love of sports.

“I see it as a sport like any other,” she says. “It’s exciting to watch. There are people who like it, but there are those who hate it as well, of course.”

As for those critics – it’s hard not to see their point. There’s something almost obscene about people literally stuffing food down their throats when people across the world are starving. It’s often painted as the ultimate in Western privilege gone wrong – a society so overflowing with excess that we turn consumption into a sport.

Mimi can eat more than most men twice her size.

Her appetite is almost limitless.

There’s a decidedly dark side to the world of competitive eating as well.

US man Dana Hutchings, 41, died after choking on his food during a taco-eating competition. A 60-year-old Australian woman died in 2020 during an Australia Day Lamington-eating competition. In 2007, a woman died from water intoxication after attempting to see how much water she could drink without having to go to the bathroom for a radio station competition.

Mimi, however, downplays the risks. It’s a sport, she says, and every sport comes with its own hazards.

“Every sport has its own danger or risks,” she says. “I need to sign a waiver every time before a competition. I’m used to it now, but I do understand it. I’ll be careful.”

That said, Mimi has no intention of slowing down, with plans to travel to the US – where the big money is – as soon as border restrictions allow. Having topped the game here in Australia, Mimi suspects the sky’s the limit overseas. When asked what she thinks it is about her that makes her so successful in the competitive eating world, Mimi is matter-of-fact.

“I’m little, and I can eat a lot. Maybe I’m just special.”

Hear more incredible real-life stories on the I Swear I Never podcast