Nela Zisser ... racking up the views on YouTube with her eating challenges. Picture: Facebook

With a Facebook fan page proudly claiming “most models nibble on a handful of nuts ... not Nela Zisser”, the 23-year-old New Zealander has been enjoying global exposure thanks to a string of extreme eating videos posted to YouTube.

The latest clip, in which Zisser consumes a 10,000-calorie sundae (fun fact: the recommended intake for an average female is about 2000 calories a day) has been picked up by the Telegraph in the UK. Her previous videos where she downed 120 chicken nuggets in 16 minutes and an 8000 calorie cheesecake in 17 minutes were picked up by the Metro and Daily Mail.

Zisser got into the competitive eating game when her mother convinced her to enter a pizza eating competition in New Zealand.

“I ended up beating 19 grown men and winning the title,” she recalls.

“Then from there I started to do restaurant challenges every so often and when I did the 1kg burrito challenge I put up a video and it went viral.”

Nela Zisser ate this burger in 3 minutes and 40 seconds. Picture: Facebook.Source:Facebook

It’s not Zisser’s first taste of fame. She won the Miss Earth competition in New Zealand in 2013, an annual beauty pageant “promoting environmental awareness”. Ironically she missed the global finals in the Philippines when she was struck down with food poisoning.

So other than internet fame, what drives a petite model to eat competitively?

“I love the feeling of winning a competition and setting new records, plus you get to meet lots of really awesome people and it’s a lot of fun,” she explains.

“I’m signed by major league eating which is the biggest competitive eating league in the world so I plan on moving to America sometime after I finish my Bachelor of Science degree to start doing it more seriously.”

And does she make any money out of it?

“I’ve never been sponsored as I don’t believe in promoting something I don’t believe in ... but if an opportunity came along to be sponsored by something I love I would definitely take it.”

The 3kg 10,000-calorie sundae was made up of 10 ingredients. Dentists, look away.

Vanilla Ice Cream — 1324 Calories

Mango Sorbet — 757 Calories

Pavlova — 594 Calories

Chocolate Mousse — 740 Calories

Whipped Cream — 1,170 Calories

Hershey’s Hot Fudge Sauce — 1200 Calories

Toffee Sauce — 1090 Calories

Hershey’s Chocolate Syrup — 1768 Calories

Reese’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups — 556 Calories

Cadbury Flake Chocolate Bars — 906 Calories

Total — 10,105 Calories

This is the video. Be warned that it contains some pretty hardcore music.

If this has whet your appetite (pun intended) you can also watch her eat a dozen doughnuts in 96 seconds, 20 cheeseburgers, or a ramen that is so big it comes in a crate.