Twitter Followed One Man's 40 Day Rotisserie Chicken Journey

Self-imposed food challenges aren't as unusual as one might expect. As a matter of fact, one such event was filmed and released as a documentary called "Super Size Me" in 2004. For those unfamiliar with the film, it follows Morgan Spurlock as he consumes food solely from the McDonald's menu three times a day. He wasn't fulfilling a bet or being challenged from an outside source; he conducted the experiment by his own accord to learn the effects of fast food on the body. Spoiler alert: They weren't positive. (Neither was the heavy drinking Spurlock was reportedly also doing at the time.)

The world of the food challenge doesn't stop with documentaries and social media entertainment. The Major League Eating Team is a group of professional eaters who travel around America to take place in such challenges, including The U.S. National Buffalo Wing Eating Contest in New York, The 2022 Major League Eating World Banana Pudding Championship in Alabama, and, of course, The Nathan's Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest, also in New York.

This Philadelphia man wasn't a professional, nor was he conducting a world-famous experiment. Instead, he did it for the satisfaction of reaching his own goal: to eat a whole rotisserie chicken every day for 40 days (via Delish).

When Twitter user @AlexiconTom (Alexander Tominsky) revealed his chicken-eating goal online, he likely didn't expect to gain so much attention. On October 8, he posted a photo of him sitting at a table with a rotisserie chicken, knife in hand and water on the side. "I would like to invite you all on a journey that I am on. I am eating a rotisserie chicken every day for 30 days," he said, stating that he was on day 11 but had photos as proof for previous days. After that, he started to post daily, always including an image and a caption reading, "[Current number of] consecutive days eating an entire rotisserie chicken."

Somewhere along the journey, he decided to extend the challenge to 40 days. On day 30, he invited the public to watch along as he consumed his final rotisserie chicken on November 6 at an abandoned pier in Philadelphia. Though Tominsky called the occasion "not a party," it drew quite the crowd. After finishing his final bite, he held the plate in the air while those around him cheered him on. It was almost like something out of a movie.

When asked why he did it, he said this to the New York Times: "Much of the world is in pain, so he must do something that brings him pain to make others smile. Sounds weird, but I just felt like I was doing this for a very important reason."