Blair River stands 6 feet 8 inches tall and weighs about 600 pounds. His weight and his enthusiasm for the food at Chandler's Heart Attack Grill have won him a $100-an-hour modeling contract.

This week he shot a YouTube video commercial to promote the grill, which invites anyone over 350 pounds to eat for free.

River, who lives in Mesa and works as a financial adviser at the University of Phoenix, was the state heavyweight wrestling champion in 1999, the year he graduated from Payson High School. He played a year of football at Mesa Community College.

The Heart Attack Grill, at 6185 W. Chandler Blvd. near Kyrene Road, has a medical theme. Waitresses are dressed in skimpy nurses' uniforms. Customers, called patients, wear hospital gowns over their clothes. The menu features no diet drinks and high-calorie food called such memorable names as Double Bypass Burger. Fries are cooked in lard.

The restaurant is owned by former nutritionist Jon Basso, who ran a chain of seven Jenny Craig weight-loss centers in Oklahoma.

He advertised for the spokesman on Craigslist and Facebook, which is where River applied.

Basso said he had quite a few applicants.

"The economy is rough, and top-paying modeling jobs are hard to come by," he said.

River, 29, buys most clothes online. His shirt size is 6x, and pants size is 56.

He is a regular customer at the Heart Attack Grill. River says he usually eats a couple of burgers, two servings of fries and a Coke.

He has thought about losing weight. He hasn't tried popular weight-loss plans such as Weight Watchers. He tried out for the TV show "The Biggest Loser" a few times, but hasn't been chosen.

River has tried to lose weight by paying attention to portion control, but with little success because he loves food.

"I'm going . . . to try the Heart Attack Grill diet," he said, joking. "I don't know if it will help me lose weight."