On Sunday, April 13, TikToker and influencer, Alex Khoxayo, most commonly known as “over-under guy,” visited campus for a talk hosted by Chinese Students Association and Multicultural Community Fueled Activity Board. Held in Klarman Hall Auditorium, the event attracted a decent number of fans who all excitedly gathered to see Khoxayo do what he’s best known for: eat.
Khoxayo became popular on TikTok for a series in which he attempts to eat foods within a certain amount of bites. He was also dubbed the “cheese guy” for eating entire blocks of cheese and rating them. His over-under videos, which I knew him from, features ideas such as “over under one and a half bites to eat this Costco pizza” or “over under three and a half bites to eat this carne asada burrito.” Khoxayo’s bizarre content has led him to reach a combined, 2.4 million TikTok followers across his two accounts.
While I was interested in this event, I was curious about how the event would actually go. Usually, most events held by MCFAB are concerts or comedy shows with the occasional actor. CSA’s event with Khoxayo was interesting as it combined a moderated Q&A followed up by an audience Q&A, as well as a food challenge. In addition, Khoxayo is most popular from TikTok and not the big screen — my biggest question was whether or not his content would translate well to the live audience.
The event itself was a mixed bag. When it was first publicized over spring break, the event, which had a 300 person capacity, sold out quickly on Campus Groups. However, when I arrived in the auditorium, I noticed that the event was not sold out with several rows near the back open. Despite this, all of the audience members were engaged and excited to hear from Khoxayo and see him in action.
The evening began with a moderated Q&A by two members of CSA’s executive board, who asked questions about how Khoxayo got started on TikTok, how his cultural background impacted him growing up and general questions about the nature of his content. While this section was definitely interesting and served as an introduction, it was not extremely riveting or engaging — I found that the Q&A moderators did not ask follow up questions and stuck to the script, leading to a somewhat stale back-and-forth between them and Khoxayo. After this, the event transitioned to an audience Q&A, where audience members asked a range of questions from “how big is your mouth” to “what types of food do you still want to try” and noted curiosity about how he stays fit despite making a living from videos of him eating.
Finally, the last (and most exciting) segment of the show rolled around: the eating challenge. The first task was a “chubby bunny challenge” with dumplings; a few audience members were invited up to compete against Khoxayo to see who could fit the largest number of dumplings into their mouth without chewing or swallowing. This was funny and, to a degree, off-putting to watch. Khoxayo and an audience member ended up tying for 18 dumplings.
The next and final challenge was over-under with a Dos Amigos burrito, where the challenge was to eat a burrito in two-and-a-half bites. As I sat in the audience and watched four students and Khoxayo stuff as much burrito as they could into their mouths, I could not help but to be disgusted. Where Khoxayo’s TikToks are usually entertaining to watch because he speeds up the parts where he chews, sitting in silence and waiting for everyone to chew their first bite of burrito was awkward, to say the least. Ultimately, everyone failed and most had to spit out their large bites of food. Khoxayo voiced his regret that he wasn’t able to fulfill the challenge, which was met with an understanding response from the audience.
Selena Liu ’26 attended the event because she was familiar with Khoxayo’s TikTok. “He was really down to earth, friendly, and entertaining,” she said. “Despite the first part being a little boring, the rest of it was great albeit a little disgusting,” echoing my similar sentiment.
Ultimately, while this event wasn’t my absolute favorite, I still appreciated how CSA and MCFAB are making efforts to invite smaller creators to speak at Cornell. In addition, Khoxayo’s humbleness and eagerness to take pictures with everyone after the event was a welcomed change compared to bigger guests who are booked strictly down to the hour.
A few hours after the event, Khoxayo posted from the Ithaca airport trying fufu made, and delivered by students in the audience who offered to make it for him during the Q&A. If anything, his welcoming presence and willingness to interact with students outside of his event was a refreshing change of pace.
Eirian Huang is a junior in the College of Arts and Sciences. They can be reached at ehh56@cornell.edu.
