Table 2.
Examples of complete user comments (i.e., comments have not been shortened or otherwise edited) from a viewer perspective
| Category/subcategory | Examples of user comments |
|---|---|
| Viewer perspective | |
| 1. Envy and amazement | Bruh she eat 8 cup rice 20 eggs and gains nothing I eat a peace of fruit and gain 457,867 zillion pounds |
| How, just how the hell is this girl not fat???!!!! I simply breath and i gain five pounds!!! TF | |
| She eating like dinosaur but her body is very lithe … | |
| 2. Body shaming | He looks really good back then… i dont know what drives him to be as skinny as hes now. But really hes disturbingly skinny |
| He have a double chin haha | |
| 3. Supportive | I would enjoy watching you eat a normal healthy meal. I love your personality and that has nothing to do with eating crazy hot, excessive calories, or anything that puts your health at risk |
| Omg wtf is wrong with people nowdays…the ones that support that he has to change into a healthier diet, at least suport your opinion kindly with statements,not with not-funny-at-all insulting and rude coments about his diet or his appearence(tryna be savage or sth)…JEEZE think about what your saying and the way you say it. dont just hurt people | |
| 4. Explanations | |
| 4a. Intensive physical exercise | He bikes over 200 miles a week and lifts 6 times a week |
| Im not completely sure but ive heard that he works out more then half of his day and thats probably why hes so slim | |
| Actually he exercises 'bout 8 h per day to keep himself in shape. He said it on the live broadcast | |
| 4b. Restriction and purging behaviors | This sounds cynical but I wouldn't be surprised if most of them purged after eating. 10 k calories is a ton, especially if you are an influencer and need a perfect body. Heaps of mukbangers chew + spit/purge too |
| I'm sorry but there is NO WAY she's not bulimic | |
| I'm annoyed at how skinny he is. How can he plow through more than a month's worth of food and not be obese? Unless he eats nothing but celery for the rest of the month… yeah that's probably it | |
| She never outright admits to having an eating disorder, in fact in one video she sits down and tries to differentiate the difference between what she does and eating disorders, stating that she’s “in control” and not “binging.” But she eats almost 10 k + calories each cheat day. That is a binge. She used to have them somewhat frequently, and she would always stay 120 lb. That’s because on the days she’s not filming herself stuffing her face, she HAS to be restricting or purging | |
| 4c. 'Medical mystery' | Her stomach is a mini Bermuda triangle |
| Actually … she has a health condition where her stomach expands 6X, so in order for her body to absorb the nutrients she needs, she has to eat this much | |
| This guy has the most fastest metabolism system ever, i'm so jealous. i bet he never gets fat because all of the meat he eats, n shit goes to his height and probably feet | |
| 4d. Ethnicity | Because he is Asian lol… Some Asian including my family no matter how much we eat we hardly gain any weighs |
| Nah man a ton of koreans are naturally skinny it's just how they are built it's just how you see skinny girls that don't gain what no matter how much they eat in America | |
| 5. Developing into a trend | Before the hype, it started out as videos of people (usually a woman) eating a meal in front of the camera so that lonely solo people (usually men) who come home to eat alone can feel like they are enjoying a meal with someone. Then Korean media got a hold of how popular these videos were and started making programs related to finding, cooking, and eating good food. And Korean celebrities also started making these videos of themselves eating. At no point was any of these videos and tv programs made for binge eating. At some point, Mukbang became an international thing (i blame K-pop) and then it transformed into some weird binge eating concept. And now here we are… |
| This is why we can't have nice things. It started off so sweet and innocent to help lonely people… | |
| I follow some of these mukbangers, and damn, they are just a heart attack waiting to happen. It's always the same mantra, "You guys have been BEGGING me to film this (insert fast food) mukbang so I'm doing it for you guys!" No one is forcing you to gorge on 5,000 cal binges everyday. Don't act like what you're doing is somehow okay because your viewers ask for it. You are risking your health and wellbeing, and all the attention is just perpetuating the problem. I hope they see the light. Further, it appears that uploading these daily videos has become some people's main income stream, which is dangerous. Now you have to eat yourself to death to support yourself. Granted, these videos can be entertaining and it can feel like you're eating with friends. But maybe upload once a week, not every damn day! | |