Hundreds gather to watch man eat gigantic jar of cheese balls in NYC

Hundreds of people gathered in Union Square Park, NYC to watch a man eat an enormous jar of cheese balls. As the crowd cheered him on, was he able to finish the jar, or did he walk away halfway through his challenge?

On April 27, hundreds gathered to witness one unknown man eat a gigantic jar of cheese balls in New York City’s Union Square Park. He advertised the occasion by plastering flyers about his self-imposed dare around the park. “Watch me eat this entire jar of cheese balls,” he said on the ad, which included a picture of himself wearing a bright orange mask.

By the time 3:00 PM on Saturday arrived, the man was the center of attention to hundreds of onlookers. As he revved the crowd up, they began chanting, “Cheese ball man, cheese ball man!”

A TikTok video posted by someone watching the legendary moment has already garnered 12.5M views, with one viewer calling the gathering “strangely beautiful.”

The unknown man even claimed that he was “allergic to gluten,” causing the crowd to laugh – but they started to cheer him on once he began eating the cheese balls. “Eat those cheese balls!” they roared.

After about 10 minutes into his cheese ball challenge, the man said he was in “so much pain.” However, he kept going while saying to the supportive crowd, “I am not ‘cheese ball guy 427,’ you guys are! We are all cheese ball man!”

By 3:23 PM, the man had just one more cheese ball left to “fulfill” his “dream” of eating a full jar of cheese balls in Union Square Park. After the crowd went wild, he asked them, “Same time next year?” As everyone continued to cheer, the man proudly signed autographs to commemorate the strange occasion.

Viewers of the now-viral video have since called the scenario “performance art.” One viewer even said, ”This is why I love America,” while another added, “The human experience is truly unlike anything else the world has to offer.”

This isn’t the first time someone in New York City has gone viral for holding an unusual event, though. In November 2023, a group went viral on TikTok for serving Thanksgiving dinner to people riding the subway.

And in October 2023, YouTuber OllyBee went viral for faking a fight between workers from Wendy’s and Five Guys. As the two argued on an NYC subway about whose job was better, they trolled each other’s income and outfits, creating another infamous moment that had members of the public laughing all over the net.