Katmai’s Crowd Favorites

At Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park and Preserve, the rush of the river sets the stage for one of Alaska’s most-watched traditions. Each early fall, viewers around the world tune in to Explore.org’s livestream to watch brown bears stack up salmon and fat, then vote for the bear they believe is best prepared for winter. The bracket-style contest is called Fat Bear Week, and this year’s champion was 32 Chunk, a massive bear estimated at more than 1,200 pounds.

Fat Bear Week began in 2014 when former park ranger Mike Fitz organized a simple popularity contest on social media.(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fat_Bear_Week) It quickly grew into a weeklong online tournament that blends education with entertainment. Adult males can gain hundreds of pounds over the summer, sometimes eating dozens of fish in a day. Those reserves are essential because bears neither eat nor drink during months of hibernation and can lose up to a third of their body weight.

To qualify for the bracket, bears must be visible at the Brooks River through summer and fall so rangers can document before and after photos. Fans read biographies that identify bears by number and nickname, track feeding styles, and compare images that show dramatic changes. This year’s field included past champions like Grazer, who won in 2023 and 2024. Grazer was eliminated by 856, a dominant male who finished second to Chunk.

Chunk’s story became the headline. He arrived with a broken jaw, a serious injury for a predator that depends on catching and eating fish. According to Fitz, now a resident naturalist at Explore.org, Chunk adapted by avoiding fights and finding ways to eat despite the limited use of his mouth. In the semifinals, Chunk gathered 82,913 votes, then won the final with 96,350 votes to 856’s 63,725. The contest set a participation record with 1.6 million total votes.

While the tone is celebratory, the realities of life in Katmai are present on camera. Brown bears are apex predators, and viewers sometimes witness violent encounters that can delay events and prompt ranger Q and A sessions. Even so, Fat Bear Week remains a light entry point into conservation, giving a global audience a close look at wild behavior and the science behind survival.