We live in an era of incredible human feats. Ultramarathons, Hyrox, and triathlons have become increasingly normalised against a backdrop of social media stars completing impossible challenges, and Ross Edgley is one such mad lad who can’t say no when there’s a mountain to climb.
The British swimmer was the first person to swim around Great Britain, he swam 510km non-stop – the record-longest non-stop swim – ran 1,000 miles barefoot with a 50kg bag on his back, and completed an Olympic Distance Triathlon whilst carrying a tree.
Back in 2024, Edgley was laser-focused on a new challenge that saw him take on four of the world’s scariest sharks – tiger sharks, mako sharks, great whites, and hammerheads – in various disciplines, and he spoke to LADBible to explain that the tiger shark one was particularly gruelling.
To take on a tiger shark, Edgley tried to eat as much as one as it was the only thing he felt he “could actually compete at”. He certainly gave it his best.
Tiger sharks, he explained, travel for thousands of miles whilst hunting or migrating, often without eating anything at all. Once they land upon something, they live up to their nickname of the “trash cans of the sea” by eating things like whale carcasses, turtle shells, and even human-made junk that’s ended up floating around.
With medical supervision, Edgley’s challenge saw him test how much wait he could lose and gain in 48 hours.
To start, he spent around 18 hours in a heat chamber where he was “just cycling, running, trying to lose as much as possible”.
Having eaten nothing over that time, his skin was “looking paper-thin” as he sat down to load up on as much food as possible.
“My record seven litres of custard – that was what I was most proud of,” he said. “It was amazing.”
Despite all that fasting and exercise, you might be surprised to learn that he didn’t actually have much of an appetite.
“I was like ‘no, no, hydrate’,” he said. “We did electrolytes and a Hulk smoothie as well which was just a green smoothie – just to replenish the body.”
From there, things “just get silly”, with his mum preparing what he described as “two slabs’ worth of cheesecake” to go with his seven litres of custard.
He also polished off four backs of Haribo, a pizza, a plate of fish and chips, a burger with fries, two whole cinnamon loaves, two Full Englishes, four Mars Bars, and four tubs of Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.
Anyone else feeling a bit sick?
In total, all that grub amounted to 41,103 calories, and Edgley gained a full 22 pounds – just over 1.5 stone – in just 24 hours.
Sadly, he couldn’t match up to a tiger shark in what turned out to be a “brutal” defeat.
Edgley’s team produced a huge amount of calorific gel, described as a “jelly lollipop” for the shark to consume. The shark made light work of it – comparing the gel to en equivalent amount of whale blubber, the oceanic beastie had “taken down 20,000 calories in one bite”.
Edgley was nevertheless proud of his efforts: “I felt pretty good about myself with that 40,000 before we found out that a tiger shark would do half of that in one bite.”
You can see Edgley’s challenges in full in his docuseries Shark vs. Ross Edgley, which is available to stream on Disney+.
You can watch Ross’ mammoth challenge when his docu-series Shark vs. Ross Edgley lands on Nat Geo WILD in the UK on 22 July for SHARKFEST.
Hopefully it goes without saying, but don't try eating 40,000 calories in one sitting, or even across a whole fortnight.
Featured Image Credit: Stuart Westmorland via Getty ImagesTopics: Celebrity, Social Media
Rachael Davis