Something to cluck about: this man ate 40 chickens in 40 days to cheer up his hometown

At an abandoned pier along the Delaware River in Philadelphia, USA, the crowd cheered the man triumphantly holding an empty plate.

Alexander Tominsky (31) had united the city with his bizarre feat of eating a full rotisserie chicken every day for 40 days.

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He'd been quietly documenting his greasy journey at home, but for his grand finale he decided to go public.

Alexander put out flyers around the city to advertise his feat and the public invitation went viral on social media.

When the day arrived, the Philadelphia Chicken Man, as he's now known, was surrounded by cheering supporters.

He set up a table by the pier where he ate the 40th chicken in front of the crowd of supporters. (PHOTO: Twitter@AlexiconTom)

“Eat that bird!” the huge crowd of proud Philadelphians chanted as they encouraged him to finish.  

Alexander says the challenge started when he decided to do something to bring a little joy to the world.

“This is just a little bit of an inconvenience and a sacrifice for the joy it seems to be bringing people.”

At the start of the challenge, he could finish a chicken in 20 minutes. But after a few weeks, he was bloated and had cramps, and he could “feel the pulse of my heart in my stomach".

By the end of his challenge, it took him two hours to finish a bird, which was his only meal of the day.

He lost more than seven kilograms over the 40 days.

“This is going to sound strange, but if I happened to, for some silly reason, pass away from this, I would've been okay with the sacrifice,” he says.

The past 11 days were the hardest, and he had to wash down the chicken with water just to finish eating it. 

“Basically, I drank the chicken,” he said.

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But it was all worth it as his city repaid him with an outpouring of gratitude and support, Alexander said. 

However, as he gives his body time to recover, he's happy to be done.

"I'd never consider doing that again."

Sources: nytimes.com, 6abc.com, Twitter