Malawian food lover Austin Awali, popularly known as Spanner, is set to competefor a possible place in the Guinness World Book of Records.
Spanner has been invited to Nigeria for an eating competition which, among others, will require participants to eat 50 and 100 pieces of nsima, with a place in the Guinness World Book of Records as the ultimate prize.
The competition has also attracted participants from Nigeria, Ghana, Zimbabwe and Cameroon. Apart from participating in the competition, Spanner has also been signed to feature in a number of Nigerian film productions.
Spanner expressed hope in an interview yesterday that he will make it and has assured his followers that he will bring the top prize home.
“I don’t want anybody in the whole world to be known about food-eating apart from me. Malawians should know that I am bringing the title home. With the size of Nigerian nsima pieces, the maximum I can take is 70 pieces. This will be a walk in park,” he said.
Spanner has asked Malawians to follow the proceedings of the competition live online to share in his moment of glory.
He has been invited by one of Nigeria’s popular social media personalities Asher Kine, who organises eating competitions in that country.
The Malawian is set to leave for Nigeria today.
Awali made a plea for assistance for his proposed trip on social media, but his plea faced a backlash.
Some of his followers expressed displeasure on his tendency of asking for assistance every time he is travelling for competitions. They say it smacks of poor planning on his part considering all the competitions that he has won recently.
Lawrence Illumination Nachipo said: “He should find a management team to do things on his behalf. It does not look good that every time he is travelling he has to come out to ask for assistance.”
Another fan, identified as Happy Pipo, said his apparent poor planning is an element that is present in the conduct of most celebrities.
Spanner has seen his popularity in the food eating space rise in the region as well as in Nigeria, where food eating competitions are popular. He has visited Nigeria several times where he triumphed on all occasions.
On his travels, Spanner has defeated Nigerians Bama, Ikwojesus and Spanner Nigeria. He has also triumphed over South African food eater Bill G and has also previously competed against counterparts from Senegal and Zimbabwe.
Awali comes from Mbujo Village, Traditional Authority Nyambi in Machinga District where he did both his primary and secondary school before briefly relocating to South Africa in 2013.
