Liangzi spent years eating for an audience.
Last week he tried walking some of it off, and the attempt ended with emergency crews carrying him down Mount Emei on a stretcher.
The 33-year-old mukbang creator, real name Li Zhanliang, weighed 27 stone (171.5kg) when he set off up the mountain in China’s Sichuan Province as part of a weight-loss push.
He stands 5’5″.
Bamboo poles at 2,800 metres
Footage from the climb shows him hauling himself upwards step by step while companions used long bamboo poles to prop up his stomach.
It went roughly as well as that image suggests.
Exhaustion and a shortage of oxygen hit near the 2,800-metre mark, about a kilometre from his target, and he lost consciousness.
Friends raised the alarm. Park staff reached him with a stretcher and emergency teams brought him down safely.
He later posted a short video thanking fans and explaining what happened.
“I hadn’t done any exercise for a long time and was only one kilometre short when I couldn’t breathe anymore,” he said.
He added: “But I’m fine, next year I’ll get my body right and will try again.”
‘Deeply irresponsible’
Officials at the scenic area urged climbers to judge their own fitness honestly and stop pushing past safe limits.
Former doctor Tan Qindong went considerably further, calling the decision to send someone with extreme obesity up the mountain deeply irresponsible.
He warned the strain risked sudden death, permanent joint damage or acute heart and brain problems.
Viewers split their concern two ways: worry for Liangzi himself, and irritation at public rescue teams footing the bill for a stunt designed to gather attention.
Why It Matters
Mukbang runs on escalation, and escalation has a ceiling.
When the format’s physical toll becomes the story, the redemption arc becomes the next format, and Liangzi’s climb sits precisely on that pivot.
The weight gained on camera now fuels weight-loss content, complete with a collapse, a rescue and a promised sequel.
The backlash over rescue costs matters too.
China has squeezed binge-eating content since its 2021 anti-food-waste rules, and public anger about creators draining emergency resources is the kind of pressure regulators tend to act on.
He joins a growing line of extreme creators converting the damage of one content era into the material for the next.
Liangzi says he’ll be back on the mountain next year, fitter this time.
Whether he trains for it or films it, or both, is the part worth watching.
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