SUMO chiefs were left scrambling to find food after the wrestlers ploughed their way through 700kg of rice and 400 bottles of soy sauce.
The five-day Grand Sumo Tournament took place at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
A whopping 25,000 wrestling fans attended the event, the first time sumo has been held in London for 34 years.
Mongolia’s Hoshoryu – who weighed in at 150kg – was crowned winner, beating his 190kg opponent Onosato.
And the sheer volume of sustenance required for the 40 rikishi – the proper name for the wrestlers – was simply astonishing.
The amount of rice was equivalent to a small car, grand piano or even an adult male polar bear – approximately the weight of ten average humans – and left wholesalers’ stock running empty.
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Elsewhere, the athletes polished off a staggering 1,000 packets of instant miso soup 1,050 onigiri, 400 Kikkoman Soy Sauce bottles and 750 packs of instant noodles which were bought by the Royal Albert Hall.
However, incredibly, extras were still needed to meet the insatiable demands.
It is thought the sumo wrestlers’ diet stands at 10,000 calories per day to maintain their weight.
Matt Todd is the director of programming at the Royal Albert Hall.
He told The Times: “We just about got by.
“We’ve been making sure we have plenty of bento boxes for the wrestlers.
“One box isn’t going to do it.
“I’ve been backstage and seen 100.”
Rather fittingly, even the winning prize was very on brand.
Hoshoryu received an oversized inflatable bottle of soy sauce to mark his victory – as well as a massive teddy.
As well as the monster food portions, Londoners were delighted to see the visitors embrace the city by riding Lime bikes, eating fish and chips, drinking pints of Guinness, visiting Buckingham Palace and posing for selfies.
