FOND DU LAC, Wis. —  Don Gorske walked into his usual McDonald’s in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin on Tuesday afternoon and had a Big Mac.

What You Need To Know

  • Don Gorske started eating two Big Macs a day on May 17, 1972

  • He celebrated 50 years of the ritual Tuesday

  • Don Gorske says he plans to keep on eating the burgers​ until he dies 

Eating the burger is something he’s done twice a day for the last 50 years. As of Tuesday night, that’s 32,944 Big Macs.

“I’ve only missed 8 days in 50 years, which is phenomenal. I count every Big Mac and I’ve counted every Big Mac I’ve eaten my my whole life,” he said. “I’ve got my count sheet from day one.”

After 50 years, his love affair with the hamburger is going strong.

“All through life a lot of people said, ‘You’ll be dead before reaching 50 years of eating Big Macs,’” Don Gorske said. “I guess I proved them wrong.”

He had his first Big Mac on May 17, 1972, just a few hundred feet from where his preferred store in Fond du Lac now stands.

Those around Don Gorske, like his son Gideon Gorske, aren’t surprised at his persistence.

“Growing up around here we always went to McDonald’s with my dad and had Happy Meals and I always loved my Chicken McNuggets and my brother always loved his hamburgers,” Gideon Gorske said. “It’s how we grew up and it’s just an everyday life kind of thing for us.”

Gideon Gorske, though, has a more varied diet than his father.

“I used to eat chicken nuggets everyday; I used to eat cheeseburgers everyday but eventually you just get sick of it,” Gideon Gorske said. “I don’t know how he does it, but he certainly does.

The elder Gorske said he plans to keep eating Big Macs until he dies because he likes them.

“A lot of times people will say, ‘You look like you’re eating a Big Mac for the first time.’ I guess that’s how I feel sometimes,” he said. “They’re that good to me and there’s nothing else I’d rather eat.”