Japan’s renowned mukbang YouTuber Yuka Kinoshita, with 5.24 million subscribers, abruptly announced her retirement on Feb. 1, saying, “It’s becoming difficult to continue as a competitive eater.”
Kinoshita’s decision may have been a life-saving one. Mukbang is an unexpectedly extreme profession that pushes the body beyond its limits—forcing the digestive system to endure excessive strain from consuming massive amounts of food in a short time. This can lead to severe physical and mental stress, and in extreme cases, even death.
South Korean mukbang YouTuber Haetnim the Short Mouth, who has 1.78 million subscribers, suffered a throat injury last year. She recalled, “I overcooked crispy pork belly to make it extra crunchy, which was a mistake. I lost my voice, swallowing became painful, and I felt like I had the flu, so I had to go to the hospital.”
Some mukbang YouTubers abroad have even lost their lives. In July last year, Chinese YouTuber Fan Xiaoting died during a livestream while attempting to eat over 10kg of food, with the cause of death identified as overeating. At the time, he was 24 years old and weighed a staggering 300kg. A month earlier, Salvadoran YouTuber Edgar Landaverde, known as Callejas 503, died at 37. That same month, Filipino content creator Manoy Apatan (38) suffered a fatal heart attack the day after filming a mukbang. The incident was so alarming that the Philippines began considering a ban on mukbang content.
Coincidentally, as reports of mukbang YouTubers retiring or passing away continue, the popularity of mukbang itself appears to be declining. Google Trends data, which tracks search interest globally and regionally since 2004, shows a noticeable drop.
According to Google Trends, searches for mukbang first appeared between late 2014 and early 2015. Interest peaked in South Korea in 2019, when COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, China, and globally in 2020 when the WHO declared a public health emergency. Since then, search volume has steadily declined.
Mukbang TV shows are also being canceled or struggling. “Tasty Guys,” once a leader of the mukbang boom, has yet to recover its ratings. When it premiered in January 2015, it sparked a nationwide craze, with reruns airing up to 1,000 times a month at its peak. Another show, “A Full Saturday Night,” launched in late 2021 with mukbang YouTuber Heebab alongside celebrities Park Myung-soo and Noh Sa-yeon, enjoyed brief success but ended in July last year.
One major reason for mukbang’s decline is the controversy over allegations that mukbang YouTubers secretly spit out or discard food instead of actually eating it. As suspicions arose, some viewers condemned the practice as deceptive, fueling negative public sentiment, especially over food waste. Moreover, while early mukbang content felt fresh, its appeal has faded as countless creators continue to recycle the same formats.
The rise of short-form content, such as TikTok and YouTube Shorts, has also contributed to mukbang’s decline, as viewers now prefer brief, high-impact videos over lengthy eating shows. Major platforms like YouTube have adjusted their algorithms to limit exposure to extreme eating content and promote healthier, more ethical videos, leading to a natural drop in mukbang viewership. Another factor is the shifting dietary preferences of Millennials and Gen Z, who once favored highly stimulating foods like malatang and tanghulu but are now embracing healthier eating habits.
