McDonald's fan - Donald - completes 50 years eating a Big Mac every single day

'I guess I proved them wrong', says Donald after years of people warning he wouldn't even live to 50, let alone survive 50 years of daily Big Macs

An avid McDonald's fan has eaten a Big Mac almost every day for the past 50 years - and he has kept count of every single one.

Donald Gorske has been keeping a careful tally of all the famous burgers he’s eaten ever since he started on May 17, 1972.

He passed the 25,000 burger milestone on the same day in 2011 and this week celebrated his “phenomenal” – as he puts it – achievement of 50 years, or 32,943 Big Macs.

“Oh, I've only missed eight days in 50 years, which is phenomenal,” he told CNN.

“And like I say, I count every Big Mac. I've counted every big Mac I've eaten my whole life, so I got my count sheet from day one.”

Half a century later, Donald, from Minnesota, has stepped up his efforts to scoff two burgers a day despite previous warnings from others that he won’t live until he’s 50 at the rate he goes.

“All through life here, a lot of people said, ‘well, aren't you going to... you'll be dead before you reach 50 years of eating Big Macs’,” he said.

“I guess I proved them wrong.”

Each Big Mac contains around 550 calories, according to the McDonald’s website, although this may have varied over the past 50 years.

At the current measurement, Donald would have consumed more than 10 million calories from the burger alone – that’s without any sides of chips or a drink.

But he insists he’s not planning on ever slowing down; he wants his burger and coke every day until he dies.

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“A lot of times people will say, ‘you look like you’re eating a Big Mac for the first time’,” he said.

“And I guess that's how I feel sometimes, they're that good to me. And there's really nothing else I'd rather eat.”

His son, Gideon, has fond memories of going to McDonald’s with brother and father for Happy Meals.

But his father’s zest for the golden arches hasn’t quite passed down to him.

“I used to eat chicken nuggets every day, I used to eat cheeseburgers every day,” he said. “But eventually you just get sick of it. And I don't know how he does it, but he certainly does.”