Peter Czerwinski, also known by his stage name Furious Pete, gave a motivational speech and hosted an eating competition on Jan.20 in the Observatory in front of 130 people.
People recognize Pete as a competitive eater, but he also speaks out on his prior life experiences to spread a positive message across many platforms.
He has overcome testicular cancer, intestinal cancer and anorexia which drove him to become a success. Pete’s coined term “stay hungry” is a derivative of this and popular amongst his fans.
“I’ve seen his Youtube videos, he inspires me. Stay hungry and don’t let negative things crowd your mind,” said Amer Jaouni, first-year aviation management student at Algonquin.
Many are inspired by his message and this is because his experiences reach out across many platforms.
The eating competition was the main event of the night and Pete chose three people from the crowd to compete against each other. The food involved was a mixture of taco ingredients stuffed inside half of a Doritos bag.
The three competitors were Amer Jaouni, Dan Grove and Sarina McKay. In roughly five minutes Dan Grove, a graduate of the public relations program at the college, finished first and won the competition.
Proceeding the competition, Pete began taking questions from the crowd. The majority of them was about how he is able to eat so much and stay in good shape. Pete explained that he doesn’t do eating competition that often anymore, and when he does he prepares himself by sticking to a liquid diet for at least a day and a half prior.
“It’s more the message he gives, so it’s knowing his story, knowing his background and he pretty much touches on a wide range of subjects in an entertaining way that impacts a lot of our students,” said Baldeep Randhawa, an events coordinator at the college. “It is a good way for our students to talk about subjects that are hard to talk about.”
The true testament to his fame came about during the meet and greet after the show. Almost everyone stayed to speak to him, waiting as long as two hours for the opportunity.
“I was open with that right away and people know that I don’t sugar coat things, I tell it how it is. If it’s crappy I talk about it, and if it’s not I talk about it,” said Furious Pete. “I think that’s why people get inspired by it. I think I’m the same person online as I am in person. That’s why people like me on all platforms.”