Fourth of July legend Eric ‘Badlands' Booker takes The Post inside his chugging prowess

New York Post

7 hours ago

Last name, Bladder. First name, Greatest.
Reigning Nathan's lemonade gallon chugging champ Eric 'Badlands' Booker is ready to wash away the competition this Independence Day, seeking a fifth straight championship belt in the hot dog eating contest's newest opening event.
'I'm just trying to chop my time down, take bigger and fewer gulps,' Booker, a 56-year-old dad of three who hails from Selden on Long Island, told The Post.
'It's kind of like a martial artist. They say the harder you hit, the faster you punch. … I'm pretty confident. I'm really confident,' added the man who set a world record with his 21-second chug off Stillwell Avenue last July 4.
3 Eric 'Badlands' Booker spoke with The Post ahead of the Fourth of July.
Dennis A. Clark
Booker, who recently retired as an MTA subway conductor, has been a core part of America's favorite eating endeavor for over a quarter century. He first qualified for the big stage at an Oceanside Nathan's in 1997 after downing 16 dogs in 12 minutes.
'I got the trophy, a spot at Coney Island, and I got a year's supply of hot dogs,' the gentle giant recalled.
'They gave me two boxes with 480 links of hot dogs. It was 60 pounds.'
Good to be bad
That fateful moment turned Booker into a regular ravenous competitor in the hot dog competition and other Major League Eating events — he says chicken wings are his favorite to scarf — as his lore began to grow.
Fittingly, it was The Post who coined his 'Badlands' nickname in 2001 in an article surrounding the hype of then-newcomer Takeru Kobayashi and his opponents.
3 Eric 'Badlands' Booker has set numerous soda world records.
Dennis A. Clark
'That's when it caught on. I felt honored. It's kind of like 'Top Gun.' They name once you really get there. So I ran with it,' said Booker, whose personal best was 40 hot dogs.
Booker quickly went from stove to stardom and launched a food-themed hip-hop career during the mid-2000s with albums such as 'Hungry and Focused,' later going on to rap a recorded intro for the Nathan's contest in 2020.
He also began a beverage consumption YouTube page, Badlands Chugs, in 2012, with the initial goal of chugging a two-liter Diet Coke bottle without burping. Out of all carbonated beverages, diet soda is the most belch-inducing, Booker warned.
'I remember it vividly. … I tried it, failed miserably. I had a nine-second burp that came out of that, which just went super viral,' he said.
'My son, Brandon, he filmed it with his iPhone, and my wife was upstairs, and she's just like, 'What's going on down there?!' ' Booker added of his son, fellow hip-hop producer OKHipHopOnline, with whom he collaborates.
Since that fizzy fury, Badlands set numerous soda world records, glugging ocean water, pickle juice, and tons more fan-suggested concoctions while amassing almost 4 million followers.
The nearly six-pound lemonade title belt, which he helped design, features a blue finish as a nod to the ocean chug, according to the champ, who has held the crown each year since its inception in 2021.
That first year was just Booker vs. a timer, and his stunt was such a hit that Nathan's decided to bring in others for a full-fledged competition.
Even flow
Opposite to chowing down on hot dogs, Booker says that hot and steamy days are an advantage for downing lemonade out of a plastic jar while judges watch beneath the table for spillage.
3 Eric 'Badlands' Booker
Dennis A. Clark
On top of that, nowadays he spends his Fourth of July morning enthusiastically spitting bars to the crowd of 30,000 strong in South Brooklyn to pump everyone up to see the legendary Joey Chestnut in action.
'I'm probably dehydrated by the time I get up to do the chug,' he said.
'The last couple of years, when I drank my gallon, I just felt refreshed and hydrated. I'm ready to go, you know? I didn't have to use the bathroom for at least an hour.'
As the undisputed lemonade king of the world, Booker is proud to have become a household name nearly 30 years after that fateful day in a Nassau County Nathan's.
'People recognize my voice on the subway,' he said.
'Hey, you're the guy from Nathan's! You're the chug guy!' It's awesome. I'll ring the horn or something, especially if we're at the station. Being recognized is amazing.'