Man who ate tub of cheese balls in NYC admits he nearly threw up

New York City residents gathered around Union Square Park on Saturday to watch one man in an orange mask eat an entire tub of cheese balls.

The man, who hasn’t revealed his name, is known as “cheeseballman427” on both Instagram and TikTok. He began posting photos of himself back in March 2024 in his neon orange ski mask, before revealing his plan. Flyers recently began to make their way around Manhattan, as he advertised: “Watch me eat this entire jar of cheeseballs. Union Square Park April 27th 3pm.”

When the infamous day finally arrived, the 22-year-old New York University graduate explained in an interview with ABC just how shocked he was at the amount of people who showed up to watch him eat the jar of cheese balls.

“I really didn’t expect this many people to show up,” he told the outlet. “I think everybody wants to be behind the mask.”

To hype up the hundreds in attendance, the man held up a flag with his face on it while the crowed shouted, “Cheeseball Man” or “Eat those cheese balls.”

As he made some progress on eating the entire tub, he recalled hitting a wall where he didn’t think he’d be able to continue. “There was a moment that I was definitely going to throw up,” he told ABC. “And then people said, ‘Keep it down,’ really loudly. So, I just kept it in.”

Many people ended up taking to TikTok and X, formerly Twitter, to show off clips from the event.

“CHEESEBALL MAN DID IT #cheeseballman @ union square park,” one post read on X, showing off the man’s last few bites of the cheeseball jar.

“I just saw a guy eat a whole bucket of cheese balls in Union Square, New York City,” another tweet read.

“Cheeseball Man is the hero we don’t deserve but the one we need right now,” a third person joked on X.

Other commenters thought that the cheese ball man was copycatting a man in Philadelphia, who had posted a similar flyer back in November where he advertised eating an entire rotisserie chicken. “Cheeseball eating guy is not as good as Philly chicken man because there’s no sense of humility. Also it’s a rip off,” one post on X read.

The anonymous man ended up completing the task he set out to do in 30 minutes. He then spent some time signing autographs and taking pictures with people in the crowd. As for what the cheese ball-eating man does aside from snacking, he told ABC that he does his best to clean up any unwanted trash around New York City.

“I clean up the city. I pick up trash. You know, when I see people they need to, you know,” he said.

However, he still vows to make sure he cleans up while still wearing the mask. “Oh, I have to do it in the mask,” he added.

The event as a whole appeared to be a success, and he revealed to the outlet that he will be doing the same thing again next year with an even larger tub of cheese balls to eat.

The Independent has contacted Cheeseball Man for comment.