BLACKPOOL is never shy of proving itself a heavyweight in the tourism industry, and a new exhibit should help tip the scales even further.

Ripley's Believe It or Not have unveiled a life size replica of the world's heaviest man at their Pleasure Beach museum of the odd and unusual.

Walter Hudson was man mountain weighing an unbelievable1400 lbs when died aged 27 in 1991.

At six foot tall he had a 103 inch waste and his knees were 53 inches round.

A prisoner of his own body he lived for food and his daily diet would include 2 boxes of sausages, 1lb of bacon, 12 eggs and a loaf of bread, and that's just his breakfast.

For lunch he would have eight burgers and eight portions of fries before his dinner of three steaks, four baked potatoes, four sweet potatoes and four heads of broccoli.

He only came to the attention of the world when he got stuck in the doorway at his home in New York and it took eight fire fighters more than three hours to free him.

The Ripley's Odditorium opens for weekends starting February 19, when admission is £2 per person.

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