Nela Zisser: 'Give me scorpions over hairy tarantulas any day'

New Zealand competitive eater Nela Zisser eating scorpions in South East Asia. Photo / Supplied

Model-turned-competition-eater Nela Zisser has been munching up a storm in Asia.

On a whirlwind trip to Thailand, the former Miss Earth New Zealand devoured 10 scorpions in 90 seconds, scoffed a hairy tarantula and downed a 2kg feast of curry.

"The scorpions looked disgusting but they didn't taste all that bad," she told the Herald on Sunday.

"They were crunchy, salty and a bit weird, but not unlike beef jerky.

"The large tarantula is by far the worst thing I have ever eaten. It was deep-fried and very dry but it was also pretty hairy. I had trouble keeping it down.

"I will have a go at eating just about anything but I will never be trying tarantula again."

Videos of the 23-year-old Aucklander's bizarre gastronomic exploits have been viewed more than 2.5 million times on her YouTube channel titled "Nela Eats".

In the past, Zisser has chomped through 120 chicken nuggets in 16 minutes, 10 Filet-o-Fish in under six minutes and downed five foot-long sandwiches in just over nine minutes, beating Aussie champion Matt Stonie's time of nine minutes and 32 seconds by 15 seconds.

She has just returned to New Zealand after a five-day visit to Thailand where she was filmed tackling the scorpions and the tarantula, plus wolfing a 2kg chicken curry in just over six minutes.

"I wasn't that disgusted by the thought of eating big and scary insects because I just shut my mind off to what I was doing," she said. "The only thing I turned my nose up at was a plate of deep-fried larvae."

On her return this week, the Auckland University of Technology student was videoed munching down 45 burgers in 90 minutes in her kitchen.

She plans to travel to the United States where most of her fans are based to take on a number of big prize eating challenges.

See most of her eating exploits here.