Gentle giant spokesman for high-calorie burger chain Heart Attack Grill dies at just 29... of pneumonia



Blair River, who died aged 29 from pneumonia after suffering a bout of flu

The massively overweight promoter of the Heart Attack Grill, which serves unashamedly high-calorie burgers and fries, has died at the age of just 29.

Friends say 6ft 8in and 575-pound Blair River passed away from pneumonia after a bout of flu.

The larger-than-life character is famous for promoting the gut-busting restaurant in Arizona with its unhealthy menu of huge hamburgers, milkshakes and fries cooked in lard.

Restaurant founder Jon Basso paid tribute to the gentle giant today, saying there was a lot more to the former state wrestling champion than the caricature he played.

He described River as a creative genius who ideas included a warning on the front door of the restaurant from the Surgeon General, urging: 'Go away, if you come in this place, it's going to kill you'.

The entrees are described as anti-arterial and suggestions for a visit include bringing a defibriliator.

'We all have a very, very brief time on this earth, and the measure of a man is how he leaves the world after he's been here, and I can tell you Blair River was my friend,' Basso said.



It was also River's idea that anyone over 350lbs be allowed to eat for free in the diner in Chandler, Arizona, where some of the offerings come in at a mighty 8,000 calories.



Protest: Health campaigners plan to picket the opening of a Heart Attack Grill in downtown Dallas. Blair River, seen here, played up to his caricature of a fat guy in ads for the restaurant

Single-bypass burger: One of the waitresses in the Heart Attack Grill serves up an unashamedly high-calorie snack

Even the TV dietician Joy Bauer was forced to admit that the restaurant’s sales tactics were 'hilarious and different' and acknowledged that healthy eaters could occasionally allow themselves a decadent pig-out.

Basso contends that his ingredients are all natural — not processed — and that if customers split a 'single-bypass burger' that is 'probably the healthiest meal they’re going to have all week.



He emphasises, too, that he doesn’t 'pander to kids' like some large, fast-food chains - although children are offered candy cigarettes at the Heart Attack Grill.

River's death will only bring more publicity for the originally themed diner - which, along with the ironic nature of his demise, would no doubt amuse him.

